The ZU Korean Club of Abu Dhabi Campus led by Mouza Khalifa Buti Ahmed Almazrouei (President, Finance Major) and Dr. Sophia Soyoung Jeong (Academic Advisor of Korean Club, Assistant Professor of Management) of College of Business was swept off their feet in the year 2020. In January, they had just successfully hosted the Korean Festival in the presence of Her Excellency Noura bint Mohammed Al Kaabi, Minister of Culture and Knowledge Development, President of Zayed University, together with the visiting delegation led by His Excellency Park Yang-woo, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism of the Republic of Korea, and Kwon Yong-woo the Korean Ambassador to the UAE. Shortly after, every event and study trip planned for the whole year was cancelled due to the pandemic.

Unswayed by the adversity, Dr. Sophia Jeong reached out to Dr. Young Sang Kim of Seongkyunkwan University (SKKU) in South Korea, the advisor of S-One club, a student club focusing on business strategy, and proposed a virtual cultural exchange between students from the two countries.

In collaboration with the Korean students of S-One, the ZU Korean Club launched a webinar series. Two webinars have been successfully held already, blazing through the pandemic. The first webinar titled “Korea-UAE Student Cultural Business Exchange” took place on 13^th of July, 2020, and the second webinar titled “Beyond the Korean Entertainment Industry in the UAE” on 7^th of October, 2020. The events were attended by more than 90 student participants from the UAE and South Korea. Fruitful discussions on culture, business, and the lives of the youth of the two countries led to deeper understanding of each other, and developed a basis for long-term friendships and collaboration.

A short video clip of the first seminar titled can be found on the ZU Korean Clubs social media here: https://www.instagram.com/p/CC2yWS1HjUf/