Foreign journalists invited to attend fellowship program

SEOUL, Jan. 20 (Yonhap) -- The government will invite 150 foreign journalists and
journalism students this year to spend a few weeks in the country as part of
efforts to raise its profile, the program organizer said Wednesday.

The journalists and students will be provided with various programs on Korean
diplomacy, politics, tourism and culture during their stay ranging from one to
five weeks under the Bethell Fellowship program, said Korean Culture Information
Service, an arm of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.
The fellowship was newly named this year after Ernest Thomas Bethell, a British
journalist who came to Korea as a correspondent for the newspaper Daily Mail at
the outset of the Russian War in 1904 and, with a local intellectual,
co-published the Korea Daily News the same year.
The newspaper, called Daehan Maeil Sinbo in Korean and published in both
languages, represented Korea's resistance movement until Japan usurped Korea's
sovereignty in 1910. Bethell, once fined and imprisoned for his pro-independence
activism, died of heart failure in 1909 and was buried in Seoul.
Dozens of foreign journalists have been invited annually, but the program was
significantly expanded in scope this year under the new official title, said Park
Hye-jin, a spokeswoman for the organizer.
Those who are interested in the fellowship may acquire further information and
apply for it at the South Korean embassy in their countries.
hkim@yna.co.kr
(END)

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