S. Korea to draw on network of ethnic Koreans abroad

SEOUL, Jan. 19 (Yonhap) -- South Korean will actively seek to draw on the talents
of ethnic Koreans living abroad and tap their skills in order to contribute to
national growth, the prime minister's office said Tuesday.
"The government decided to activate the network of ethnic Koreans to use the
capacity of the 7 million population as an engine for growth in the
knowledge-based era," the office said in a statement.
The decision was made in a meeting of a government committee overseeing ethnic
Korean policies, it added.
As part of efforts to strengthen the links, the government will build a database
of people with Korean ethnicity this year and a system for managing multiple
networks of those people by 2012, the statement said.
It also said that government support for overseas schools educating children with
Korean ethnicity and teaching Hangeul, the Korean alphabet, will sharply increase
this year. About 42 billion won (US$37 million), up 23.2 billion won from a year
ago, was set aside for ethnic Korean schools while 6.6 billion won, up 1.8
billion won from last year, will be provided to support Hangeul schools, the
office said.
The government also decided to expand political and economic support for ethnic
Korean communities in such countries as the United States, Japan, China and
Russia so they can serve as a bridge in relations between South Korea and their
residing countries. Details of the plan, however, were not released.
Presided over by Prime Minister Chung Un-chan, the meeting, the 11th of its kind,
was attended by 12 Cabinet ministers and seven civilian members of the committee.
sshim@yna.co.kr
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