Jeju Forum seeks to invite North Korean UNESCO official to participate remotely

Participants attend a session of the 20th Jeju Forum for Peace and Prosperity at the International Convention Center Jeju in Seogwipo, May 28, 2025. Courtesy of Jeju Peace Institute

The organizers of the Jeju Forum, an annual event held in Jeju Island on themes of peace, are seeking to invite a North Korean UNESCO official to participate remotely in this year's edition, which is set to take place next week.

If realized, the official will become the first North Korean to take part in the South Korean-hosted forum since its launch in 2001.

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Unification, the forum organizers are working to invite Chang Gwang-chol, chief of the Education Policy Section at UNESCO’s Division for Policies and Lifelong Learning Systems, as a speaker for a session titled “UNESCO and the Future of Education: Challenges and Prospects” on June 26.

The unification ministry said forum organizers had filed a notification in advance to communicate with Chang. Under South Korean law, contact with North Korean nationals requires prior approval from the unification ministry, even if the communication is related to participation in an academic or international event.

“The organizers submitted the contact report in advance, and we accepted it,” a unification ministry official told reporters Tuesday.

The profile of Chang Gwang-chol, a North Korean UNESCO education official, as shown on UNESCO's website / Captured from UNESCO website

The official emphasized, however, that Chang’s participation has not yet been finalized.

“Whether he will take part by video has not been decided yet. We’ll have to wait and see,” the official said.

Forum organizers said Chang was invited in his capacity as a UNESCO education expert, not as a representative of North Korea.

According to UNESCO, Chang received a doctorate in education from Kim Hyong Jik University of Education in Pyongyang and previously worked for North Korea’s education ministry before joining the U.N. agency.

He has since held a number of positions at UNESCO headquarters and regional offices, overseeing a range of education programs involving the right to education, education policy analysis, education systems and data management.

A Jeju Peace Institute official said the invitation was made as part of efforts to bring together experts who could discuss educational innovation and future education policy.

The 21st Jeju Forum, themed “Reinventing Cooperation in a Fragmented World,” will be held June 24-26 at Haevichi Hotel & Resort Jeju and Jeju Stone Park.