Participants attend a session of the 20th Jeju Forum for Peace and Prosperity at the International Convention Center Jeju in Seogwipo, May 28, 2025. Courtesy of Jeju Peace Institute
The organizers of the Jeju Forum, an annual event held in Jeju Island on themes of peace, are seeking to invite a North Korean UNESCO official to participate remotely in this year's edition, which is set to take place next week.
If realized, the official will become the first North Korean to take part in the South Korean-hosted forum since its launch in 2001.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Unification, the forum organizers are working to invite Chang Gwang-chol, chief of the Education Policy Section at UNESCO’s Division for Policies and Lifelong Learning Systems, as a speaker for a session titled “UNESCO and the Future of Education: Challenges and Prospects” on June 26.
The unification ministry said forum organizers had filed a notification in advance to communicate with Chang. Under South Korean law, contact with North Korean nationals requires prior approval from the unification ministry, even if the communication is related to participation in an academic or international event.
