Conference on Cooperation between the Republic of Korea and Central Europe

Last week, the Conference on Korea and Central Europe Future Cooperation took place. This event was organized by the Center for Asian Studies (CAS) in collaboration with the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in the Czech Republic, the Institute of International Relations (IIR), and the VŠE Faculty of International Relations.

The opening remarks for this significant conference were delivered by Young-ki Hong, Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to the Czech Republic. The event was divided into two panel discussions, with the first one introduced by Jakub Eberle, Director of Research at the Institute of International Relations. The main topic of this discussion was the coordination of Korean-Central European policy in the Indo-Pacific region.

Within the first panel, participants engaged in a discussion featuring Yoon Jung Choi, Director of the Center for Indo-Pacific Studies (Sejong Institute), Alica Kizeková, Head of the Asia-Pacific Significance Group at the Center for the Study of Global Regions (IIR), Takashi Hosoda, Researcher at the Institute of Intelligence Studies (University of Defense, Czech Republic), and Taehwa Hong from the Eurasia Program Researcher (FPRI). The debate was moderated by Jan Švec, a research fellow of the Asia-Pacific Research Group at the Center for the Study of Global Regions (IIR).

The second panel discussion, titled “Economic Security and Global Cooperation within the Value Chain between Korea and Central Europe,” was initiated by Josef Taušer, Dean of the Faculty of International Relations at the Prague University of Economics and Business. The second panel was moderated by Tomáš Petříček, a senior non-resident researcher at the Center for Global Political Economy (IIR). During this panel, discussions included contributions from Docent Hyo-young Lee from the Department of Economy, Trade, and Development Studies (IFANS), Docent Jana Vlčková from the Department of International Economic Relations at the Faculty of International Relations of VŠE, and Lukáš Martin, Head of the International Relations Section at the Confederation of Industry and Transportation of the Czech Republic.

The entire conference was conducted in English and was the result of successful collaboration between the Faculty of International Relations of VŠE, the Center for Asian Studies, the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in the Czech Republic, and the Institute of International Relations in Prague.