23 'World Culture City
Correspondents'
Selected from 14 Countries

Will serve as a cultural bridge between Korea and other Asian, global nations

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism has released a list of 23 correspondents from 14 countries around the world who are commissioned to collect and dispatch information and news of world culture cities and beef up exchanges and cooperation with related overseas institutions.
The Office for the Asia Hub City of Culture said it put out a public offer to recruit correspondents for 39 cities in 26 countries and finally selected 23 correspondents out of a total of 85 applicants from 19 countries.
The 23 correspondents are commissioned to work from Jan. 25 until June 30, 2008. Foreigners account for 14, or 60 percent of the total, and they include a project manager from the Pompidou Center in Paris, a former Hong Kong-based newspaper reporter, Singapore's Explanade performance manager, a Philippine culture and arts committee team chief and a Pakistani government official.
The world culture city correspondent system was introduced in 2007 to help the global public understand Asian cultures by securing diverse culture and arts content from countries in Asia and other parts of the world. It was also designed to build a foundation for promoting exchanges and networking between government agencies, organizations and institutions related to culture as part of the Asia Hub City of Culture Project being undertaken by the MCT.
In 2008, the world culture city correspondent system was expanded. The Asian region is divided into five areas. South America and Africa were newly added with two and three major cities selected from each continent, respectively.
The correspondents will collect articles on general culture and arts events and commentaries as well as information about each country's culture ministry and major projects.
The correspondents'articles will be posted on the Web site of the Office for the Asia Hub City of Culture or through the Web magazine and newsletter.
No correspondents are commissioned from parts of Southeast Asia and Central Asia because of a lack of applicants. Those vacancies will be filled by the second half of 2008.
Ministry officials said amid promoted collaboration with UNESCO, ASEAN Plus Three and other international organizations, the world culture city correspondents are expected to serve as cultural bridges between Korea and other countries, thus solidifying a foundation for developing Gwangju into one of the Asian hub cities of culture. nw