The Cyber Diplomacy Organization VANK has been honored with the Presidential Commendation as part of the 2022 Cultural Heritage Protection Merit Awards.
Since its establishment in 1999, VANK has provided cyber diplomacy training to 35,334 Korean youth and young adults, while also educating 26,010 individuals as global Korean cultural ambassadors. Through these efforts, the organization has played a pivotal role in promoting South Korea to the world.
VANK has produced over 100 types of promotional materials, distributing more than 1.5 million copies on Korea’s history and cultural heritage. These materials have been disseminated globally through VANK’s network of cyber diplomats and cultural ambassadors. The organization has also successfully worked to include Korean cultural heritage in international textbooks, dictionaries, and educational institutions. Notably, VANK played a key role in securing the inclusion of Jikji, the world’s oldest extant book printed with movable metal type, in renowned global textbooks and in registering Korean historical materials on U.S. educational platforms.
To further its mission, VANK has developed multilingual websites to introduce Korean cultural heritage to students and educators worldwide. These websites are available in eight languages, including English, French, Italian, Russian, Chinese, Spanish, and Indonesian, allowing teachers and students across different countries to learn about Korea’s history and culture in their own languages.
Additionally, in response to historical distortions by China and Japan, VANK has actively launched 104 international petitions between 2019 and 2022, gathering support from 366,590 people worldwide to advocate for accurate representation of Korea’s history.
Amid the global popularity of the Korean Wave, VANK is spearheading the New Hallyu Project, which seeks to introduce Korea’s rich history and cultural heritage to the 150 million K-culture fans worldwide, expanding their interest beyond K-pop and K-dramas.
The Cultural Heritage Protection Merit Awards were established to raise awareness of the importance of cultural heritage and to honor individuals and organizations that have made outstanding contributions in the fields of preservation, research, and utilization. The awards recognize distinguished achievements with honors such as the Order of Cultural Merit, the Presidential Commendation, and the Prime Minister’s Commendation.
The 2022 Cultural Heritage Protection Merit Awards ceremony took place on December 8, 2022, at 2 p.m. at the Folk Theater Pungnyu.
The Cultural Heritage Administration selects recipients based on their contributions in the following areas:
- Preservation and transmission of cultural heritage
- Efforts to globalize cultural heritage, including UNESCO World Heritage designations and management
- Dedicated service to cultural heritage preservation on the ground
VANK embodies the spirit of active engagement:
We are not diplomats, but we conduct diplomacy!
We are not historians, but we make history!
We are not government officials, but we work for our country!
We are not members of international organizations, but we change the world!
Titles and positions do not define us.
We walk, run, take action, and make change happen!
We are VANK. We are Korea.