Hosted by Incheon National University (President Park Jong-tae) and co-organized by Incheon National University's Division of External cooperation, Research Institute for Local Companionship Platform and LINC3.0 Project Group, the "Forum on Understanding Overseas Koreans and Policy Issues" was held at 3 p.m. on Monday, February 10 at the curation zone on the 4th floor of Incheon National University's Irum Hall.

The forum, hosted by Kim Dong-won, head of Incheon National University's Regional Cooperation Platform (Director of Incheon National University's Foreign Cooperation Department), included a welcoming speech by Park Jong-tae, president of Incheon National University, and a congratulatory speech and a commemorative photo by Lee Sang-deok, head of the Overseas Koreans Agency. Roh Young-don, vice president of Incheon National University, took the helm, followed by "Introduction of Overseas Korean Projects" by Oh Jin-hee, planning coordinator of the Overseas Korean Administration, and Kim Yong-pil, CEO of the EKW Overseas Korean Newspaper, presented a theme of "Understanding Overseas Koreans and Seeking a Win-Win Plan" and Lee Ki-sung, policy director of the Overseas Korean Administration, Lee Min-ho, Seoul branch director of the Japan Unification Daily, and Kim Jae-ki, professor of political and foreign affairs at Chonnam National University. 

In the first presentation, Oh Jin-hee, Planning and Coordinator of the Overseas Korean Office, introduced the government's active request for overseas Korean policies to enhance the concept of overseas Koreans, the process and scale of the formation of the Korean community, the growth and qualitative development of the Korean community, and the contribution of overseas Koreans to their home country by field (historical aspect, economic field, culture and arts field, national image enhancement), and in the process of launching the Overseas Koreans Agency and the "Major Tasks and Promotion Direction in 2025", ① Strengthening the legal foundation and collecting opinions from the Korean community; ③ Strengthening education to foster the identity of overseas Koreans; ④ Strengthening the next generation of Korean support projects; ⑤ Strengthening the Korean network by region, field, and generation by strengthening comprehensive and practical policies to strengthen support for Korean residents. 제시 Expanding the one-stop digital integrated civil service to convenient Korean residents' lives and ensuring the suffrage of overseas Koreans was proposed.

In the second presentation, Kim Yong-pil, head of the EKW Korean World Newspaper, suggested that the 80th anniversary of liberation and the year of change of perception of overseas Koreans should be made under the theme of "Understanding Overseas Koreans and Finding a Win-Win Plan," and that the role of overseas Koreans in the confrontation with Japanese imperialism in Japanese colonial era should be highlighted. At the same time, he pointed out the absence of personnel in charge of finding descendants of independence fighters, introducing the fact that 7,285 people were not awarded the order of independence fighters. Regarding the current issues of overseas Koreans at home and abroad, he raised the need for a revision of the legal status of the "Act on the Immigration and Legal Status of Overseas Koreans, the Framework Act on Overseas Koreans" and the legal exclusion of stateless people. Representative Kim Yong-pil emphasized the need for public awareness of overseas Koreans living abroad and the need for history education, while Koreans residing in Korea emphasized that H-2 and F-4 visas are visas for visiting employment, and F-4 visas are visas for overseas Koreans to stay for a long time.

In the following discussion, Lee Ki-sung, the policy director of the Overseas Koreans Agency, said that the premise of Korean identity is necessary, and discussed what policies we will take in the direction of how we will look at overseas Koreans, arguing that the existing policy direction has been pursued in a regulatory, legal and controlled way, but everyone should agree on the need for a change of perception in the future. In the 80th anniversary of liberation from Japan's colonial rule, it is also a big task to cooperate with the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs and to think about policies that we can accept Koreans more inclusively. He said that the Overseas Koreans' Office will make efforts to help our compatriots settle well in the local community through education on understanding of compatriots, settlement support programs suitable for Koreans and Koreans, and awareness improvement projects.

In the second discussion, Lee Min-ho, head of the Seoul branch of the Unification Daily of Japan, argued that it is necessary to discover new independence activists of overseas Koreans while discussing the necessity of establishing a database such as promoting the independence movement of overseas Koreans and the history of the independence movement of overseas Koreans, but that it is a very realistic idea to show the records of overseas Korean independence activists who have already been revealed for an urgent and efficient way to proceed with a mid- to long-term task. He also raised the issue of the credibility of statistics on the status of Koreans and discussed the need for mutual understanding of overseas Koreans. 

The third debater, Professor Kim Jae-ki of Chonnam National University, also mentioned the achievements of Dr. Lee Tae-ryong of the Institute of Independent Movement History of Incheon National University while discussing the issue of Korean homage abroad to mark the 80th anniversary of liberation.

In a subsequent discussion with participants, Choi Yong-gi, chairman of the Overseas Korean Education and Culture Council, called for the creation of an overseas Korean education and culture center and paying attention to the localization of textbooks. In addition, Ewha (a member of the secretariat of the Central Council of the Korean Federation of China) raised the issue of negative views on the Korean-Chinese and mentioned her interest in the "Next Generation Korean Support Project" among the projects of the Overseas Korean Administration. Professor Ji Maxime of the Department of International Studies at Hoseo University (Chairman of the Education Committee of the Korea Association) then mentioned the importance of the visa issuance background and talked about the feeling of discrimination between the H-2 visa and the F-4 visa and the mindset of the Overseas Korean Cooperation Center's home country identity for the home country training program.

In the continued discussion, Professor Lee Jung-hee of Incheon National University mentioned the importance of records and newspapers, and raised the need to study overseas Koreans through work such as applying for records and newspapers of overseas Koreans, sharing the data with our researchers, archiving them or creating archives. 

Chung Young-soon, chairman of the Association of Koryo-saram, proposed private governance of overseas Koreans and asked them to pay attention to the implementation of projects such as scholarships, difficulties for bilingual students, and language instructor training programs as well as Koreans living outside.

Roh Young-don, vice president of Incheon National University, concluded the forum by saying, "Our people are mistaken that everyone, including overseas Koreans, shares the same identity. Therefore, when we look at our compatriots, we can solve the problem of compatriots more smoothly when we acknowledge and accept that they have multiple identities."