Seen at the signing ceremony (from left), Prof. Vilas Wuwongse, AIT Vice President - External Relations, Mr. Chung Man-Young, Counsellor, Embassy of the
Republic of Korea; Prof. Said Irandoust, AIT President; Mr. Lee Sang-Ahn, Resident Representative, KOICA Thailand Office; Prof. Sudip Rakshit, AIT Vice President - Research; Mr. Kim Hyung Gon, President of Thai Korean Chamber of Commerce; HE Mr. Yoon Jee-Joon, Ambassador, Embassy of the Republic of Korea and Mr. Kim Eun Sub, Deputy Resident Representative, KOICA Thailand Office.
Increased Korean Support to AIT
On 6 January 2006, the Government of the Republic of Korea, through the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) formalized a second generous contribution of US$500,000 to the Korea Endowment Fund at a ceremony held at AIT.
The ceremony was attended by H.E. Mr. Yoon Jee-Joon, Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to Thailand; Prof. Said Irandoust, AIT President and Mr. Lee Sang-Ahn, Resident Representative, KOICA Thailand Office and delegation from the Korean Embassy, Bangkok and the KOICA Thailand Office.
In his opening remarks, Prof.Irandoust noted the partnership of Korea and AIT started way back in 1975 when the Korean Government has seconded Korean faculty to AIT through the Ministry of Science and Technology, Korea and currently through KOICA.
The secondment of faculty has been arranged by KOICA through the Korean Embassy and the KOICA Office in Bangkok in cooperation with various institutes and universities in Korea. Korean experts seconded to AIT now counts to 25. Since its inception in 1975, seconded Korean faculties have provided invaluable expertise to AIT through the various schools and fields of study at AIT.
On 24 May 1982, the Korea House building was formally opened at AIT. The Korean Traders Scholarship Foundation provided a grant of US$ 110,000 for the construction of this facility that has continuously, and up to this date, served the entire AIT community by bringing them together under one roof for various social activities.
In 2000, Dr. Young-Suk Hyun, then on secondment from KOICA, with an initial contribution established the Arirang Endowment Fund. The Fund supports North Korean nationals to come to AIT for short-term training courses as well as degree programs. The following year, former AIT faculty member Dr. Sang-Kon Lee, who was on secondment from KOICA to AIT's School of Management (SOM) made another personal contribution of US$1,000 to benefit the Fund.
The Korea Endowment Fund, established by the Govt. of the Republic of Korea in 1981, started with the amount of US$500,000. The Fund now amounting to US$1,000,000 will be used in financing scholarships for students from developing countries in Asia.
H.E. Mr. Yoon Jee-Joon acknowledged AIT's partnership with Korea saying that, 'Despite the amount of fund increased may just be small, I would like to reiterate that this is a fruit of hard work from all of our efforts and cooperation. We would like everyone to feel the priority and partnership we are making to help in the operations of AIT. With the Fund finally reaching a US$1 million figure, we hope that students benefit this cause.'
'I would like to however, in closing, state that our efforts will not stop here. We will still be a partner of AIT. In my recent visit here last month, I visited Korea House and noticed it needs a refurbishing and facelift. With our joint efforts together plus the support of KOICA we are looking into upgrading the facility at Korea House.'