Hello everyone.
It is indeed my great pleasure to welcome you all. Thank you to the distinguished speakers for joining us from around the world. I would like to thank you to the participants both online and offline who are joining us today.
Special thanks go to Prime Minister Sye-kyun Chung for spending time with us despite your important role as the head of the national task force responding to Covid-19.
I am very pleased to host this inaugural forum of the KAIST Global Strategy Institute which we officially launched in February after years of preparation. The Global Strategy Institute aims to identify global issues proactively and help us make breakthroughs well aligned with solid science-based policies.
This forum will reflect the ramifications of the political, socio-economic, and scientific challenges that this pandemic will bring about, and how we can globally collaborate to overcome.
I feel fortunate and privileged to discuss this very timely topic at the inaugural forum of the Global Strategy Institute with world renowned experts. I would like to congratulate and thank Director Joung-Ho Kim and his team for making this online forum possible.
Distinguished guests,
I join those of you who are still social distancing with very heavy heart. We are witnessing an epochal event that is affecting the entire world. In only four months, the pandemic outbreak has seen more than 2.5 million people around the world contracted the disease. More than 176,000 people have lost their lives.
The world will never be the same after the pandemic. A single unknown virus is upending our daily lives. It will redefine the new world order and new governing norms.
Every country is scrambling to deal with this crisis that has touched every aspect of our lives. Researchers are racing to develop a vaccine. Universities are doubling down on their efforts to utilize online education. We should take care of socio-economic disparities, otherwise the crisis will worsen.
Future global governance will be dominated by the power of science and technology. If we can implement efficient policies, together with troubleshooting technology for responding to future crises, we will emerge stronger than before.
Korea is one of the few countries that has successfully flattened the curve of the coronavirus. Korea’s crisis management policy, characterized by fast testing, tracing, and treating, has been recognized as a shining example in dealing with the pandemic crisis.
This ‘Korean model’ is the result of the collaboration combining the creativity of the private sector, the public sector’s strong infrastructure, and the full support of the citizens. Above all, without the technological prowess coming from the competent R&D power of Korea, we could not achieve these impressive results.
This pandemic reminds us how we are closely connected. Creative collaboration among the private and public sectors, along with research universities from around the world, will help shore up global resilience against the epidemic. We should work together to build a world of growing prosperity.
KAIST has been the hub for fostering elite scientists and generating innovative R&D in Korea for the past fifty years, and our innovations have made innumerable contributions to national growth. With the opening of the Global Strategy Institute, KAIST has built a strong foundation for developing a new global model.
It is our new vision that KAIST will continue to strive for the benefit of the humanity.
Challenges will continue to confront us. However, we will overcome them if we respond with efficient and transparent policies that are fully supported by innovative science and technology.
I hope this forum will bring out very productive discussions that will inspire all of us to build the new norms required for a global future.
Thank you very much.
April 22, 2020
Sung-Chul Shin
President of KAIST