I am very pleased to be part of this meaningful event today. I have been to many events and openings in the past, but this one holds a special significance to me, since it is the starting point for World Friends’ Korea to take a step towards helping the world. To congratulate this special occasion, we have with us today members of the diplomatic corps stationed in Korea, senior members of my cabinet and also the head of the Presidential Council on National Branding.

Many of you might have been too young to remember this, but when I was a child, Korea was at the receiving end of aid coming from other countries around the world. They provided us with food and also with skills and education. Thanks to the help, our nation is now making a proud presence on the international scene. Now it is our turn to return the favor. This is a remarkable change for the better that has happened in a relatively short period of time in Korea’s history.

The countries that you will be dispatched to are suffering from poverty to a certain degree. However, if you take on the attitude that you are there to only offer help because you come from a better-off country, you will never be welcomed into their lives. Only when you truly appreciate their culture, laws and practices can you become their friends and not just remain as a volunteer with no individuality.

It is through people like you that the people who are at the receiving end get to know Korea. When we get to hear that “volunteers from Korea re different, they’re probably the best of all volunteers from overseas” can the international image of Korea be promoted as well.

For the same reason, many Korean companies who are manufacturing overseas are not just doing business there, but also make a point to help out the local community in various ways.

When I go on overseas business trips and have a chance to meet with foreign dignitaries, I often hear from them how wonderful KOICA and its volunteers have been in helping the people in their countries. I can’t say how proud I was to hear those comments.

Through this experience, you will learn something that you don’t get to learn in schools or by just living in Korea. Of course you will be offering help, but you, too, will be getting something in return. You will also be taking on the responsibility of a member of the international community.

I have high expectations for the young Koreans who will be taking this opportunity, the 40 to 50 hundred people who will be boarding planes every year to help those in need overseas.

But please do not forget, that your health should be something on your priority list, too. What would happen if you went abroad to help people there when you are the one to fall ill and have to ask for their help?

Go on and show once again the diligence of the Korean people, the views we have for the future of our common world that is Earth, how Korea is pulling its weight in the areas of environmental preservation and global climate change.

It is getting very hot as I speak. But think of this, too, as a sort of training, since many of you will be sent to countries that have hotter climates than that of Korea.

Once again, let me say thank you to all of you, and wish you all the best in your endeavors.

Thank you.