First lady Kim Hye-kyung and Princess Anne, sister of Britain's King Charles III, visit Save the Children Korea in Mapo-gu, Seoul, on Wednesday. [Yonhap]
First lady Kim Hye-kyung and Princess Anne, sister of Britain's King Charles III, visit Save the Children Korea in Mapo-gu, Seoul, on Wednesday. [Yonhap]

First lady Kim Hye-kyung visited Save the Children Korea on Wednesday alongside British Princess Anne, saying she hoped the meeting would "serve as a meaningful occasion to further strengthen cooperation between Korea and the United Kingdom on child protection."

Cheong Wa Dae Deputy Spokesperson Ahn Gwi-ryeong said in a written briefing that Kim joined Princess Anne, who is currently visiting South Korea, at the Save the Children Korea office in Mapo-gu, Seoul, that afternoon to observe child rights activities and meet with children, adolescents and young activists.

Ahn said the visit was organized "to broaden public attention and support for child rights activities, and to encourage children, adolescents and young people — the next generation — who are leading those efforts." Kim and Princess Anne were first briefed on Save the Children Korea's work and heard about various programs aimed at advancing children's rights and addressing the climate crisis.

Save the Children is an international non-governmental organization working in more than 120 countries to uphold children's rights to survival, protection, development and participation.

Kim and Princess Anne then met with children, adolescents and young activists, who introduced their work and engaged in conversation. A youth climate action group called Assemble explained that it "carries out diverse activities to protect children's climate rights at the individual, societal, corporate and international levels." A university student child rights support group called Young Saver said it "raises public awareness of children's rights through campaigns and activities that help children participate directly and make their voices heard."

Activists from Assemble and Young Saver proposed several measures to ensure children's rights are protected even amid the climate crisis: strengthening public health systems, guaranteeing continued access to education and culture, building child-friendly disaster prevention and response frameworks, and incorporating children's perspectives into corporate sustainability practices.

After listening to the activists, Kim and Princess Anne encouraged the children, adolescents and young people working actively to advance children's rights, Ahn said.

Kim and Princess Anne then received a briefing on the "Send a Red Goat to Africa" project. Ahn said the initiative "is an international development cooperation project that began in 2010 in response to a food crisis in Niger, with the goal of strengthening food security for children and families by providing goats, while building communities' self-reliance and capacity to respond to the climate crisis."

After the briefing, Kim said the project "is playing a meaningful role in supporting the self-reliance of children and families and helping build a better future," and offered words of encouragement to those involved.

Kim also expressed gratitude to Princess Anne, saying she was "deeply thankful to Princess Anne and her husband for their long dedication to the happiness of children."

Princess Anne said South Korea "has grown from a recipient of international aid to a donor country," and expressed hope that it "will continue to play an important role in advancing children's rights and international development cooperation on the world stage."

Ahn said Kim, as the visit concluded, conveyed her appreciation to Princess Anne for visiting Korea and expressed hope that the two countries would "continue to expand cooperation on advancing children's rights and addressing the climate crisis."


moone@heraldcorp.com