‘Green Growth: Harmony of Economy and Environment’ was the theme of an international academic symposium recently held in Seoul. At first glance, it looked like the event held by the internationally prominent academic society or a government department, but was a youth event organized by a high school. The symposium was held at Hana Academy Seoul during Aug. 5-9, sponsored by Ministry of Education, Science and Technology and the Presidential Committee on Green Growth. HAS have held the international academic symposiums for three years, emphasizing international academic exchange with foreign middle and high schools, while the participants studied and discussed the importance of green growth this year.
74 foreign students from Japan, China, Singapore, Philippine, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Switzerland and 200 Korean middle and high school students participated. Specifically, nation’s 10 teams and overseas 17 teams presented and discussed the self-prepared on three sub-topics such as climate change, energy crisis, and green technology. The presenters pointed out the necessity that countries jointly respond to global climate change. They also emphasized that the support be increased for green technology which can minimize carbon dioxide emissions. In a debate in the field of energy depletion, the students made one voice that the growing economies of large countries such as China and Brazil consumed so much energy that energy prices became more unstable. It was also stressed that the future growth could be determined by who have lots of energy resources.
Jung Tae-yoon (17) of HAS said, “Knowledge exchange while earning friendship was a new experience. It was so good to discuss international issues with foreign students, and above all, I was really happy to meet up with friends of various nationalities.”
As per this event accompanied by a variety of cultural exchanges, Kim Jin Sung, the principal of HAS said, “Since one country’s problem is not limited to that country, it is important to understand each other’s differences through discussion with the students of several countries.”
This year’s symposium appears to more closely achieve these objectives since it gets more elaborated as HAS gets experience with the previous ones of the environment symposium (2010) and Trade, Finance, and Energy and Environment symposium (2011).
