Ajou's President Dong Yeon Kim gives a special lecture at the OKTA Conference in Singapore

2015-10-23

Ajou University's President Dong Yeon Kim gave a special lecture to about 700 overseas Korean traders at the 20th Conference of the World Federation of OKTA (Overseas Korean Traders Associations), which was held in the Resorts World Sentosa in Singapore.

The Conference was organized by the World-OKTA (Chairman Ki Chool Park), the largest association of overseas Korean traders, and it was held under the theme "Koreans Going Global amid Integrated Economic Blocs." About 700 World-OCTA members from 137 cities in 70 countries participated in the event.

President Kim said, "The leaders of the future should be able to develop significance in their work and create new values," adding, "Taking on challenges and being considerate of others are important qualities of leaders." He then introduced Ajou's flagship programs including the "After You Program - Let’s Send This Student to Overseas Training."

Also in attendance at the Conference were Former Daewoo Group Chairman Woo Jung Kim, World-OKTA Chairman Park, Vice President Jeong Oh Ham of the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency, Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to Singapore Chung Ha Suh, and Goyang City Mayor Sung Choi. Former Chairman Kim delivered a keynote speech entitled 'Global Business Leads the Advancement of Korea." Officials from Ajou's LINC Project Group also joined the conference and promoted its programs and benefits to the World-OKTA members.

The World-OKTA was established in 1981 as an association of economic and trade activities for Korean businesspeople based in different countries around the globe.

Ajou began the OKTA internship program in the spring semester of 2015 and is expanding the exchanges. In the first of such moves, two Ajou students took part in the internship program at overseas Korean companies, which is being carried out by the World-OKTA in the second half of 2015. The interns have been working in Malaysia and India for three months since late July.

During his visit to Singapore, Ajou's President Kim had a separate meeting with the World-OKTA Chairman and executives, and its regional representatives, to discuss ways to expand cooperation between the association and the University. President Kim also had dinner with Ambassador Suh of the Republic of Korea and visited the international school for Korean students in Singapore. Sixty-four students, the children of Koreans residing there, are attending the school, and President Kim introduced Ajou's procedures for selecting those who have lived overseas and the education programs at a meeting with the school's chairman, principal, and teachers.