Cultural and educational cooperation

Shortly after the establishment of diplomatic relations between our countries an intergovernmental Agreement on Cultural and Educational Cooperation was signed in Seoul in 1989. According to the Agreement, three-year bilateral cultural exchange programs having been drawn up defining the framework of cooperation.

At Hankuk University in Yongin since 1998 the Hungarian Department has been set up, where there were two, at the moment one, Hungarian lecturers. In spring 2005 a cooperation agreement was concluded between Budapest Eötvös Loránd University and Seoul Teacher-Training University. In September 2007 a Medical Campus was opened in Gochang with the assistance of the University of Debrecen.

About Hungarian higher education programmes for 2007-2008 you can read here (downloadable pdf file).

As usual several Hungarian symphonic orchestras give guest performances two-three times a year in Korea. In 2000 the Győr, in 2001 the Pécs and in 2002 the Debrecen Philharmonic Orchestra were on tour in several cities. The increase in the number of guest performances based on the support of impresarios is limited due to the lack of potential Korean sponsors who of course primarily support the appearance of the Korean artists abroad. This is why the Korean folklore groups could have performances many times in Budapest in the last couple of years and the hundred-member Korean Universal Ballet visited Hungary in 1999 and in 2000. Among the significant Hungarian programs of the year of 2005 the performance of the Budapest Festival Orchestra and the Budapest Operetta Theatre can be mentioned beside the exhibition of Mr. László Moholy-Nagy at Seoul Arts Centre and the participation of young Hungarian industrial designers at the Design Korea 2005 exhibition. In October 2007 the Budapest Festival Orchestra under Mr. Iván Fischer’s conduction performed two successful concerts in Seoul.

As regards the future it is promising that – in Korea, where the classical music enjoys wide popularity – the world famous Hungarian composers, music-pedagogues and musicians are well known and have excellent reputation. The Korean Liszt Society and the Korean Kodály Society in Seoul regularly organise several concerts, as well as symposiums and series of lectures.

It was a great event in our cultural relations when the Hungarian Minister of Culture conferred Pro Cultura Hungarica medals in 2004 for the first time to Korean citizens with outstanding records in developing bilateral cultural cooperation. Four persons received this appreciation until now: Hwang Yun-ha pianist, the president of the Korean Liszt Society, Park Soo-young, the professor of the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies and the founder of the Hungarian Department, Park Jae-sang, the president and Cho Hong-ky, the director of the Korean Kodály Society.

Scientific and technological cooperation

Beside the regular political consultations and deepening economic relations science and technology is the area where we can witness as well continuous cooperation. The two governments signed an Agreement on Scientific and Technological Cooperation in 1989, right after the establishment of diplomatic relations. In the spirit of this Agreement an S&T Joint Committee was established. The meetings of the Committee are usually organised regularly in every second year. In addition to this Agreement the common research projects are supported within the framework of two-year working programs.

In March 1992 the two sides established a Hungarian-Korean Technical Cooperation Centre (HKTCC) which seats at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics. In 1993 a Foundation came into existence with the aim of support of the Cooperation Centre (http://www.hktcc.bme.hu/). From the Hungarian side members of the advisory board are: Ministry of Education and Culture, Ministry of Economy and Transport and Budapest University of Technology and Economics, from the Korean side the members are: Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), Korea Institute of Materials Science (KIMS) and the Korea Foundation for International Cooperation of Science and Technology (KICOS).

The Hungarian-Korean Technical Cooperation Centre is not engaged in individual research activities, however, it organises several science-political conferences and programs about different scientific topics, where besides the Hungarian and Korean participants researchers and experts from Central and Eastern European countries are to be invited. 27 Korean experts took part at the 25-26 January 2005 conference in Budapest. In 2006 three conferences were held: „Plant Genomic” – March 8, Budapest; „Extra High Voltage Technology” – May 22-28, South Korea; Energy Saving Methods – October 10-11, Budapest.

Another important task of the Centre is the so called “match-making” which means the searching of participants for common future science projects. Owing to this fact a large number of academic and university research institutes could establish live Korean relations.