Korea to visit Cornwall

Nick Seebruch, cornwallseawaynews.com

Tae Kwon Do image (not from article) from

CORNWALL, Ontario - The City of Cornwall has been selected by the Korean Embassy as a site for this year's Village Visit Program.

Representatives from the Korean Embassy will be visiting Cornwall on Friday, Dec. 1.

"The Village Visit Program is one of the Korean Embassy's public outreach (public diplomacy) programs aimed at building awareness of Korea and Korean culture in Canadian communities who may not have opportunities to experience and engage with Korean culture, as well as to forge bilateral ties and relations with municipal governments outside of the capital city in the hopes of exploiting and supporting areas (political, economic, social, cultural, etc) of mutual interest and benefit," the Korean Embassy said in a statement to Seaway News.

The Embassy stated that they planned on touring the city and visiting at least one school.

"The main purpose of the program is to extend Korea's public diplomacy reaching out to the residents near the country's capital city in order to enhance cultural, economical and people-to-people ties between Korea and Canada," the Korean statement went on to say. "Considering the City of Cornwall would welcome an opportunity to contribute to supporting Canadians to have a better understanding of Korea and strengthening cooperation between the two countries, the Embassy reached out to the City to co-host the event."

The Embassy plans on meeting with City officials and the Cornwall Chamber of Commerce during their visit.

"We are excited for this opportunity," said Cornwall Mayor Leslie O'Shaughnessy. "You never know what can come out of a visit like this, but it is a great opportunity for us to showcase our city to another country."

Brent Stang, the instructor of SD&G Tae Kwon Do in Cornwall states that he was the one who originally approached the Korean Embassy with the idea of coming to Cornwall. Tae Kwon Do is a Korean martial art.