In Pursuit of Alliances for Multicultural Families
World-KIMWA Chairwoman Seeks to Help Korean Food Globalization
By Cho Jae-hyon
Staff Reporter
A worldwide federation of Korean women who have foreign spouses is coming to help multicultural families living here and promote the image of their homeland.
``We can understand the multicultural families living here better than anyone. We want to help them going forward.'' said Lea Jane Armstrong, the chairwoman of the World Federation of Korean Inter-married Women's Association (World-KIMWA), in an interview with The Korea Times.
There are more than 300,000 Korean women living abroad after marrying men from other countries.
Mrs. Armstrong, 67, said about 100 members of the federation came to Seoul for its fifth annual conference to be held at the Grand Hilton Seoul from Oct. 21 to 23. The federation has about 1,600 members at branches in nine countries.
``We are going to discuss ways to further strengthen ties with Koreans living around the world at this year's conference,'' Armstrong said. ``Among the key issues is how to form alliances with various organizations for multicultural families here.''
As an initial step, the federation plans to expand scholarships for the children of interracial families, the chairwoman said.
As mid- to long-term projects, the members of the federation seek to become ``role models'' for multicultural families and act as ``mentors'' in order to build strong relationships. To that extent, they plan to form sisterhoods with multicultural families.
``These kinds of ties will be helpful in allowing multicultural families to settle as smoothly as possible,'' she said.
Armstrong said the federation could play a role in the government's recent campaign to promote Korea.
``We would like to provide some ideas to assist the government's move to upgrade the national brand. For instance, we could help make Korean food culture better known around the world,'' she said.
She asked the government to better utilize the federation for the globalization of Korean foods. ``We know both Korean and foreign cultures. Our experiences could be valuable assets in various fields,'' Armstrong said.
Participants in the seminar will discuss specific measures to form alliances with multicultural families here on Wednesday. They will visit the families, schools and some cultural sites over the next two days.
The federation will set up a Korean branch later this year, with its sixth annual gathering scheduled to be held in Seattle next year.