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North Korean UNESCO official will not join Jeju Forum via teleconference
Yonhap reported Tuesday that plans for Dr. Chang Gwang-chol to join the Jeju Forum via teleconference did not succeed. He would have been the first North Korean participant since the event began in 2001. The three-day forum opens Wednesday on Jeju Island.
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An attempt to bring North Korean education expert Dr. Chang Gwang-chol into the Jeju Forum for Peace & Prosperity via teleconference has fallen through, Yonhap reported Tuesday. The Jeju Peace Institute, which organizes the forum, had sought his participation in the gathering on South Korea's resort island of Jeju.
Dr. Chang serves as chief of education policy at UNESCO. He has worked at the agency's regional offices in Bangkok and Dakar and held policy posts at its Paris headquarters. Before joining UNESCO he worked at North Korea's education ministry.
His planned appearance had drawn attention because he would have been the first North Korean national to take part in the forum since its launch in 2001. It remains unclear whether the plan collapsed because of Pyongyang's deepening hostility toward Seoul, which the North has formally designated its most hostile nation.
" It focuses on peace on the Korean Peninsula and broader regional stability through international cooperation.
