12 December 2016 – Asia Society Korea conferred its 2016 Ambassador of the Year Award to Philippine Ambassador to Korea Raul S. Hernandez for his active involvement and support of the Society’s objectives and contributions to Philippine-Korea relations and to the diplomatic community in Korea on December 09.
Asia Society Korea Center Honorary Chairman and former Prime Minister Dr. Hong-Koo Lee, and Asia Society board member and former Foreign Minister Dr. Sung-Joo Han handed a crystal Leogryph to Ambassador Hernandez at the End of Year Dinner at the Crystal Ballroom in Lotte Hotel Seoul as part of the Asia 21 Young Leaders Summit.
Asia Society is a global non-profit organization founded in 1956 by John D. Rockefeller III, dedicated to promoting mutual understanding and strengthening partnerships among peoples, leaders and institutions in the Asia Pacific region through its 12 global centers in the US and Asia.
In his acceptance speech, Ambassador Hernandez thanked Asia Society for the “prestigious honor.” He said: “I hope to have somehow contributed to your mission of deepening cooperation among countries in the Asia-Pacific region in the areas of arts and culture, business, policy, and education.”
He praised Asia Society for establishing its 12th global center for cross-cultural understanding and collaboration between the East and the West in Seoul in 2008.
“The confluence of Seoul’s rise as a new center of business, technology, culture, education, and logistics as well as my own country’s emergence as a haven of economic stability has made my work to deepen our relations a lot easier. ,” Ambassador Hernandez said.
Former recipients of the Award include: H.E. John Prasetio, Ambassador of Indonesia; H.E. Jasem Abudaiwi, Ambassador of Kuwait; H.E. Vishnu Prakash, Ambassador of India; and H.E. William Paterson, Ambassador of Australia.
Apart from Ambassador Hernandez, Philippine Honorary Consul General to Busan An Sang-wook was present at the dinner as sponsor to one of the participants from the Philippines.
Asia 21 Young Leaders’ 2016 comprises 33 rising professionals from 24 countries in the Asia-Pacific region representing the private, public, and nonprofit sectors. Clarissa Delgado, co-founder and chief executive officer, Teach for the Philippines, and Anna Meloto-Wilk, co-founder and president, Human Heart Nature, were Filipino members of the 2016 class.
Jo-ar Herrera, Chief of the Plans and Research Branch in the Office of the Assistant Chief of Staff for Education and Training, OG8, of the Philippine Army, was a panel member in the morning's first session entitled "Resilient Leadership at a Time of Uncertainty." END