Seo Min-ho elected inaugural chairman
The East Asia Exchange and Cooperation Research Institute, a newly established nonprofit organization, held its founding general assembly at the CCMM Building in Yeouido, Seoul, and launched full operations.
The institute will serve as a policy think tank, working alongside local governments, education offices, universities, businesses and civil society to research and advance new models of international exchange and cooperation.
It also plans to build a sustainable international cooperation platform connecting regional strengths to the world and linking education, people, industry and cities.
The founding assembly was attended by Shin Min-ho, a South Jeolla Province-Gwangju integrated special city council member and chair of the council's steering committee; Kim Mi-yeon, a council member and vice chair of the safety and construction committee; and Lee Hyeon-taek, a senior official at the Office for Government Policy Coordination's prime ministerial secretariat.
The institute, which bills itself as "a new departure connecting South Korea and East Asia," elected Seo Min-ho, former chair of the South Jeolla Provincial Assembly's legislative advisory committee, as its inaugural chairman. The assembly also appointed Lee Hyeon-ung as president, Kim Seung-bong as secretary-general and Ha Yeong-cheol as head of the supporters' association, and completed the selection of auditors and board members.
Going forward, the institute plans to pursue industrial smart-agriculture cooperation between Gwangyang and Cilegon, Indonesia; strawberry smart farming and international education cooperation between Damyang-gun and the Bandung region of Indonesia; garlic smart farming and agro-industrial cooperation between Goheung-gun and a smart farm project in Indonesia; and international exchange and cooperation between Gurye-gun and Purwakarta Regency, Indonesia.
Inaugural Chairman Seo said he was delighted to finally act on a plan he had long envisioned. "I had been thinking about sending students to study in East Asia for 10 years, and I am very happy that we are now putting that into action," he said. "Ha Yeong-cheol, our supporters' association head, has been doing business in Indonesia for 15 years and laid the groundwork there, supporting us in every way possible — that has been a great source of strength for us."
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