Press Release

Ms. Mikyung Lee, President of the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), along with three officials from KOICA Headquarters and four officials from KOICA

Bangladesh Office in Dhaka, are in the country from 12-15 December 2019. Ms. Lee is the first ever President of KOICA to visit Bhutan.

Today morning, His Excellency Lyonpo (Dr.) Tandi Dorji and Ms. Mikyung Lee, jointly inaugurated the KOICA World Friends Program Office in Thimphu, located at the Royal Textile Academy Complex. The Country Director and officials from KOICA Bangladesh Office in Dhaka attended the inaugural ceremony. Senior Officials from the Royal Government of Bhutan also attended the event.

The main function of the KOICA World Friends Korea Program Office is to coordinate and liaise the dispatch of Korea overseas volunteers and oversee matters affecting the volunteers in Bhutan. The Office will also coordinate activities between KOICA and the Royal Government of Bhutan.

The KOICA Program Office will work closely with the Royal Civil Service Commission (RCSC) on the dispatch of volunteers to Bhutan under World Friends Korea Program.

The first batch of four volunteers under the World Friends Korea Program arrived in Bhutan on 9 December 2019, coinciding with the formal opening of KOICA World Friends Program Office in Thimphu. Their assignment will start in February 2020 for a duration of one year. The volunteers will work as instructors in the areas of hospitality management and physical education in various schools and institutes in the country. Korean volunteers are not new to Bhutan. Bhutan has been receiving Korean volunteers since 1998 and have been assisting Bhutan in the area of sports including archery, basketball and taekwondo.

The opening of KOICA World Friends Program Office in Thimphu is an important milestone in the bilateral relations between Bhutan and South Korea, and will serve to promote greater people-to-people contacts. South Korea continues to play an important role in Bhutan’s socio-economic development, particularly in the field of human resource development.