19TH KOREAN-GERMAN FORUM, NOVEMBER 3-6, 2021 / SEOUL

KDG and The Korea Foundation co-hosted the 19th Korean-German Forum, which was held from November 3 to 6, 2021 in Seoul. The two countries’ leader discussed methods of cooperation and problem-solving amid a share future that entails coexistence with COVID-19.

One topic that was given significant attention during the keynote session was the post-COVID-19 issues faced by the international community: namely, vaccine diplomacy and carbon neutrality. Ye-One Rhie, a lawmaker and first Korean member of the German federal parliament (Bundestag), moderated the discussion. Jeon Eui-Chan (professor, Department of Environment & Energy, Sejong University) was the speaker on carbon neutrality from the Korean side and the chair of the 2050 Carbon Neutral Committee’s Climate Change Subcommittee. From the German side, Vice Chair Heike Baehrens of the German-Korean Parliamentarians’ Friendship Association, who is also a member of the Bundestag, spoke on vaccine diplomacy.

Other topics of the keynote session were political, economic and social issues of Korea and Germany and the roles to be taken by Korea and Germany in strengthening their systems of multilateral diplomacy according to the policy stance of the Biden administration.

During the forum’s other sessions, both countries’ experts discussed cooperation on climate conservation and the utilization of new and renewable energy; strengthening of bilateral and multilateral cooperation on pandemic-related issues; the meaning of generation (age) and gender in Korea and Germany; and cooperation between public and private sectors in digital areas of the Korean and German manufacturing industries.

A total of 48 prominent figures attended the meeting (Korea: 25, Germany: 23). The Korean delegation included Lee Geun (president, Korea Foundation); Kim Young-Jin (president, Korean-German Association); Kim Hwang Sik (former Prime Minister); Lee Sang Min (member of National Assembly of Republic of Korea and Democratic Party of Korea); Cho Hyun Ock (South Korean ambassador to Germany); Kim Sun Uk (former president, Ewha Womans University); and Sohn Myongsei (professor emeritus, College of Medicine, Yonsei University). The German delegation included Hartmut Koschyk (former Parliamentary State Secretary, Federal Ministry of Finance); Michael Raiffenstuel (German ambassador to South Korea); and Katharina Landgraf (former Bundestag member, former chair of the German-Korean Parliamentarians’ Friendship Association).