From November 5 to November 7, the 15th Jeju Forum for peace and prosperity was held. The theme of this forum was 'Reinventing Multilateral Cooperation: Pandemic and Human Security'.

▲ 2020 Jeju forum was held from November 5 to 7.

On the first day of the forum, there were eleven sessions. The first session was Jeju forum youth day opening ceremony. Among then the sessions on the first day except for the opening ceremony, three were about pandemics and the environment. The opening ceremony was held on the second day, and the entire session, which is about 'Crisis and Choices in the Age of Pandemic and Accelerations' was divided into two. As the theme of this forum was peace and prosperity, there were sessions about the Korean war, Eastern Asia non-nuclear zone, and defusing the China-India-Pakistan Nuclear Triangle during the forum. On the last day, most sessions were about COVID-19, which was about the search of collective action agenda, the direction of historical perception in the era of COVID-19 among South Korea, China, and Japan, civil society's actions post COVID-19, urban resilience for the sustainable future, the beginning of a new life-long education century: the rediscovery of old age, COVID-19 response and smart tourism in island tourism regions, women's everyday security, and ensuring equitable access to vaccines for all.

▲ People who applied to participate through online could join the forum through video call.

As a keynote speaker, Moon Jae-in, the 19th president of the Republic of Korea, emphasized that as the Korean economy has become the world's 10th-largest economic power, the Republic of Korea would do their best for Northeast Asia's peace and prosperity as a middle power state. He also emphasized that the collaborative response is about climate change, as South Korea has participated in international society's effort. He introduced P4G summit meeting which is going to be held in Seoul next year, and he is trying to prepare resolutions that can be worked together effectively as the society has faced climate exchange problems.

Ban Ki-moon, the 8th secretary-general of the United Nations, also participated as a congratulatory messenger. In the session of 'Global Political Dynamics and Impact on South Korea's Green and Climate Diplomacy', he insisted that climate crisis is an existent problem related to human life, and there is the destruction of the ecosystem by humans near emerging infectious diseases like COVID-19.

▲ Ban Ki-moon emphasized the importance of climate change should be prevented in advance.

Meanwhile, this forum was implemented under thorough prevention of epidemics. Only preregistered people fifty people could enter each conference hall. Before the conference, people passed in front of a thermal imaging camera. All conference hall's moving lines were simplified. All participants were mandatory to wear masks and use hand sanitizers, and tissues were equipped.

November 22, 2020

by Lee Dowon