The Asia Foundation, with support from Microsoft, is launching the Skills2Work Busan project. This initiative aims to provide digital skills training and job readiness support to 70 participants, including career-interrupted women and out-of-school youth in Busan. As part of the project, The Asia Foundation Korea Office visited local partner organizations in Busan on March 10, together with the Korea Information Technology Research Institute (KITRI), the project’s training partner. The local partners include the Busan IT Industry Promotion Agency (BIPA), the Busan Gender Equality and Family, Lifelong Education Institute (BGLI), and six Women’s Resources Development Centers in Dong-gu, Dongnae-gu, Busanjin-gu, Sasang-gu, Saha-gu, and Haeundae-gu in Busan. At the BGLI, representatives from the institute and the six Women’s Resources Development Centers discussed specific training needs and explored project implementation strategies for career-interrupted women. At BIPA, training needs and potential collaboration opportunities to support out-of-school yo..

February 28, 2025 - The Asia Foundation Korea Office sponsored the International Conference for the ROK-India Partnership, “Bridging the Future: New Horizons in Korea-India Relations”, co-organized by the Sejong Institute and the Embassy of India in Korea on Thursday, February 27. Dr. Kyungjin Song, participated as the moderator for Session 2, held under the theme Building Together Resilient Supply Chains. In this session, panels included Jongchul Kim, Director General for International Trade Relations at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy; Jaebum Park, Senior Principal Researcher at POSCO Research Institute; Saon Ray, Visiting Professor at the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations; and Amol Lahoti, Vice President of Central Purchase at Tata AutoComp Systems. They shared their insights and engaged in discussions on the topic.      The panelists emphasized that despite Korea and India being major global economies, trade between the two countries remains at a relatively low level and ..

February 20, 2025 - Dr. Kyungjin SONG, December 10, 2024, participated as a panelist in the “Regional Conference on the New Social Contract for Social Justice Trade Union Perspectives from Asia and the Pacific,” hosted by the International Labour Organization (ILO). ACTRAV (The Bureau for Workers’ Activities) interviewed Dr. Song after the conference. She shared her views on the pressing barriers to decent work in the region. Please click the link below to see the full interview. https://youtu.be/AQbLbtsMN4I?si=7us-tavJc480cXO2

Kyungjin Song, Country Representative of the Asia Foundation Korea was invited to the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce Economic Forum on January 28-29 in Colombo. The Economic Forum was inaugurated by HE Anura Kumara Dissayanake, President of Sri Lanka. Dr. Kyungjin Song gave a keynote speech on the economic transformation of Korea from the 1960s to the 1990s as well as the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis and the 2008-09 global financial crisis. She offered a set of lessons to draw from Korea’s failures and successes for developing countries to refer to in formulating their development strategies and policies. She defined Korea’s economic success as a story of export-oriented industrialization (Going Global!) and human resource development supported by leadership (top political & government), entrepreneurships of the private sector, innovation, institution building, and a favorable international environment. Industry-government-academia cooperation paved the way for Korea’s transition to knowledge-based economy, based on which Korea later ove..