South Korean Ambassador Visits ASU

On April 13, 2018, Mr. Woo Yoon-keun, Ambassador of South Korea to the Russian Federation, visited Astrakhan State University. The distinguished guest was accompanied by Mr. Denis Afanasyev, Astrakhan Region’s Minister for International & Foreign Economic Relations, and Mr. Leonid Ogul, a Deputy of the Russian State Duma. Mr. Konstantin Markelov, Acting Rector of ASU, had a meeting with the Ambassador and showed our University to him.

At the meeting, the Korean Ambassador remarked that he wished to visit ASU since 2015. He regards education as the most important factor determining national development. According to him, it was Korean young people’s willingness to grasp new knowledge that laid the foundation of the Korean economic wonder. “When I became the Ambassador of my country in Russia, I saw Russian young people demonstrating the same attitude to their studies. It means your country has a great future”, our distinguished guest said.

Cooperation with ASU is of special interest for the Ambassador, as it implies execution of joint projects. Mr. Woo Yoon-keun has already told Mr. Alexander Zhilkin, Governor of Astrakhan Region, that he is ready to establish good contacts with our Region to carry out joint projects, including cooperation in education and science.

As for Astrakhan State University, it has an agreement with Dongseo University to exchange students. The South Korean Embassy is ready to make every effort to involve other educational institutions in this exchange program. Mr. Woo Yoon-keun suggested exchanging professors as well. It is quite possible that a Korean professor will come to ASU to give lectures.

The distinguished guests were shown facilities of ASU. They visited our labs, our Caspian Higher School of Interpreting & Translation, and our Institute of Researches & Solutions to Technological Tasks. The Ambassador highly appreciated our swimming pool; he said that students should not spend all their time only to study.

The guests visited our Center of Korean Language & Culture “King Sejong Institute” that was opened at ASU last year. This is the only King Sejong Institute in the Russian South; there are only five King Sejong Institutes in Russia. The guests were told about the history of our Center of Korean Language & Culture; the Ambassador met our students who study Korean. Our students prepared for the distinguished guest’s visit and told him about themselves in his native language. Mr. Woo Yoon-keun thanked them: “I’m sure you’ll become a bridge linking our countries. I wish your lives were bright thanks to your studies of Korean!”