Media Releases

Celebrating 50 years of diplomatic relations between Canada and Korea

April 26, 2013

TORONTO, ON – On Sat­ur­day, April 27th, 2013, the Uni­ver­si­ty of Toron­to will be host­ing a full-day con­fer­ence to cel­e­brate the 50th anniver­sary of diplo­mat­ic rela­tions between Korea and Cana­da.

Enti­tled “The Past, Present and Future of Kore­an-Cana­di­an Rela­tions: Cel­e­brat­ing the 50th Anniver­sary of Diplo­mat­ic Rela­tions between Korea & Cana­da,” this con­fer­ence will fea­ture a keynote address by Sen­a­tor Yon­ah Mar­tin as well as speak­ers as Ins Choi from the pop­u­lar play Kim’s Con­ve­nience, Dr. Greg Don­aghy from the Depart­ment of For­eign Affairs and Inter­na­tion­al Trade Cana­da, the Very Rev. Hon­ourable Lois Wil­son and; Mr. Ran­dell Baran-Chong from Han­voice.

The con­fer­ence aims to raise aware­ness about the key mile­stones and turn­ing points in the his­to­ry of bilat­er­al rela­tions between Cana­da and Korea; to inspire dis­cus­sions on the past and future of the Kore­an-Cana­di­an rela­tions, encom­pass­ing immi­gra­tion, trade, cul­ture and reli­gion. As Prime Min­is­ter Stephen Harp­er announced in 2012, this year 2013 has been des­ig­nat­ed as the Year of Korea in Cana­da, which aims to high­light Korea’s cul­ture, tra­di­tions and diver­si­ty and cel­e­brate the con­tri­bu­tions of the Kore­an com­mu­ni­ty to Cana­di­an soci­ety.

The con­fer­ence will start run from 8:30am to 6:00pm on Sat­ur­day at the Camp­bell Con­fer­ence Facil­i­ty of the Munk School, locat­ed at 1 Devon­shire Place, Toron­to.  It is co-host­ed by the Kore­an Women Inter­na­tion­al Net­work Toron­to Chap­ter and the Cen­tre for the Study of Korea at Uni­ver­si­ty of Toron­to.  It is spon­sored by the Asian Insti­tute at Munk school of Glob­al Affairs and the Con­sulate of the Repub­lic of Korea in Toron­to.

The event will fea­ture three inter­ac­tive pan­el dis­cus­sions on the fol­low­ing top­ics:  “Kore­an-Cana­di­an Rela­tions dur­ing the Cold War”; “Peo­ple Mat­ters: Human & Intel­lec­tu­al Exchanges between Cana­da and Korea in the 20th-21st cen­tu­ry”; and “Mov­ing for­ward: What lies ahead between Cana­da & Korea.”

  • Hon­ourable Pre­mier of Ontario Kath­leen Wynne: “The Kore­an Cana­di­an com­mu­ni­ty is a val­ued part of Ontario’s cher­ished diversity—and of the diverse and mul­ti­lin­gual soci­ety that enables us to bet­ter engage with the rest of the world.”
  • His Wor­ship May­or Rob Ford: “This con­fer­ence will allow atten­dees to engage in dia­logue with experts who will raise aware­ness and share infor­ma­tion about the his­to­ry of bilat­er­al rela­tions between Cana­da and Korea, in addi­tion to net­work­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties.”
  • Uni­ver­si­ty of Toron­to Pres­i­dent Dr.David Nay­lor: “The Uni­ver­si­ty of Toron­to is proud to be a Cana­di­an trail­blaz­er in the field of Kore­an Stud­ies. Thir­ty Five years ago we were the first uni­ver­si­ty in Cana­da to offer a course on Korea. Since then, we have estab­lished a for­mi­da­ble pro­gram as well as excel­lent Cen­tre for the Study of Korea. This year we wel­comed more than 700 new and return­ing stu­dents from Korea. Togeth­er with our fac­ul­ty and stu­dents of Kore­an descent, they form an impor­tant and vibrant part of the U of T com­mu­ni­ty and of the City of Toron­to more gen­er­al­ly.”

Free media pass­es are avail­able to any mem­bers of press inter­est­ed in attending/covering this event.  Inter­views with par­tic­i­pants can also be arranged on the day of.  Please reg­is­ter in advance at http://canadakorea.eventbrite.ca

Tick­ets: $20 pub­lic, $10 stu­dents

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For media inquiries, please con­tact:

Tina Park
Con­fer­ence Chair
Tel: 647–228-5705
tina.park@utoronto.ca