Background of Indo-Korean Foundation (referred to as IKF)

Background of Indo-Korean Foundation (referred to as IKF)

narrated by Chung Chang-Kwon (referred to C.K.Chung)

Till now, the movement of IKF depends on myself, C.K.Chung (Moo-Jin is pen name), I can't explain the foundation without telling a bit about myself.

IKF took the shape as an unofficial NGO organization at 1996 in Seoul and was started by C.K.Chung.
Around 50 Korean artists who were interested in India helped start the IKF and now the number of members of the IKF exceeds 700 throughout Korea.

My deep connection with India inspired me to do more to increase, in my own way, the understanding between Korea and India and to open channels of communication and attunement between these two great lands.

It was with this aim in mind that I started IKF.

From 1989 to 1994 I lived in India, traveling it’s the length and breadth and I spent a large part of my travel imbibing the culture and understanding the great history and heritage of the land.

Till 1996, India was not ideally positioned, in many ways, for Korean travelers.

One main reason for this was that there was no travel guide book that catered exclusively to the needs and the mindset of the Korean tourist. What ever existed were just shoddy Korean translations of books written by people of other countries which never really appealed to the Korean tourist. Moreover the information provided was sketchy and in many cases totally inaccurate.

Based on my experience, I embarked upon the project of writing a travel guide book in Korean specifically keeping in mind the needs and the requirements of the Korean traveler. My book entitled “We are now going to India” was released in 1996 and was rated as a best seller and an absolute must for any Korean traveling to India. In 2002 as per my request, the book went out of print. (Though most of the information and articles in the book were welcomed by the people and considered as permanently useful things, I did not want the book to be a reason of confusion because people refered to outdated information in the book.)

2005, IKF become an official organization as it was registered at the Foreign & Trade Ministry of Korean government. And we were blessed to have Mr.Song Ki-Won, a well known poet/writer & senior professor of Jung Ang University, as our president.

IKF is the only organization registered in (any of) Ministry of Korea which is concerned with India exclusively.

What we have carried out during those years for our aim is to increase interaction between the two countries. I have attached a file of brief over view of our activities.

At the same time in India, I also generated a gathering of Indians who are interested in Korea from 1996, the same year I had started the unofficial NGO type of gathering in Korea. This Indian gathering of artists, writers & people is based in New Delhi, the capital city of India, registered as In-Ko Foundation.

Since then the In-Ko Foundation has been a partner of IKF for carrying the cultural exchange between the two countries.

Both In-Ko and IKF are registered organizations with the respective governments and are devoted to the relationship between India and Korea exclusively. I assure you that in future too we will carry out our missions with best ability.

Thanking you,

Sincerely,

C.K.Chung

Chief Vision Director of Indo-Korean Foundation

maha@india.kr