PRESS RELEASE
No.	PR/23-6	Date	May 9, 2023
Contact	Program Inquiries: Yeonjoo Lee, Program Officer, IDU (02-2287-1171, yjlee@aseankorea.org) Press Inquiries: Hyun-ji Kim, PR Officer IDU (02-2287-1143, hjk@aseankorea.org)
ASEAN-Korea Centre is an International Organization mandated to promote economic and socio-cultural cooperation between ASEAN Member States and Korea.

ASEAN-Korea Centre Calls Youth to Share Ideas on ASEAN-Korea Partnership

- Launch of ‘2023 ASEAN-Korea Academic Essay Contest’ -

- Call for proposals open until May 28, 2023 -

ASEAN-Korea Centre (Secretary General Kim Hae-yong) launched the ‘Call for Proposals’ for the annual ASEAN-Korea Academic Essay Contest. The list of shortlisted proposals will be developed into full essays for the ‘2023 ASEAN-Korea Academic Essay Contest’ (Essay Contest), inviting university students of ASEAN and Korean nationalities to take part in strengthening the ASEAN-Korea relations through their essays.

With the aim to foster youth’s interests and encourage the production of scholarly works on ASEAN-Korea relations, the Essay Contest is expected to bring in youth’s ideas based on the theme ‘Strengthening ASEAN-Korea Strategic Partnership in a Changing Global Landscape’ through one of the two sub-topics: 1) Current Discourse and Perceptions on ASEAN-Korea Relations and Ways to Improve Perceptions, or 2) Synergies in Digital and Green Initiatives for Sustainable and Mutually Beneficial ASEAN-Korea Partnership. Comprised of both proposal and essay stages, students are encouraged to work individually or in teams (up to 2 students) with guidance and support from their academic advisor. For more information on the Essay Contest, interested students can visit the AKC website or register for the Online Briefing Session(s) that will be held throughout May.

Selected proposals that are shortlisted to enter the essay stage will be announced on June 19, while final winners for the contest will be announced on September 26. 8 winners will be selected to receive cash prizes of up to KRW 2,000,000. Additionally, the Grand Prize winners will have the opportunity to present their winning essays at the ‘2023 ASEAN-Korea Forum’ which is scheduled for October 31.

Held in its eighth consecutive year, the Essay Contest continues to serve as an academic platform for youth to share their views and perspectives for a sustainable ASEAN-Korea partnership. Since 2016, the Contest have received over 800 essay submissions from undergraduate and graduate students and awarded over 70 outstanding winners. This year, the Essay Contest is organized in cooperation with the Institute for East Asian Studies at Sogang University (SIEAS) in Korea and the ASEAN Studies Center (ASC) at the Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM) in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The program is also supported by the ASEAN Secretariat, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea, and the ASEAN University Network.