President Yoon: "We Will Actively Support Women's Self-Realization" [2022 Women Forum]

Asia Economy Hosts '2022 Women Leaders Forum' Opening
40 Domestic and International 'Power K-Women' Selected

On the 19th, participants of the 2022 Women Leaders Forum held at Lotte Hotel Seoul in Sogong-dong, Jung-gu, Seoul, are taking a commemorative photo. From the left: Boram Lee, CEO of Third Age; Irang Lim, CEO of Cony Byerin; Hee-eun Park, Partner at Altos Ventures; Hyun-joo Yeon, CEO of Life Research Institute; Young-kyung Seo, Monetary Policy Committee member; Kelly Choi, President of Kelly Deli; Won-duk Lee, President of Woori Bank; Eun-hye Kim, Chief of Public Relations at the Presidential Secretariat; Hyun-sook Kim, Minister of Gender Equality and Family; Byung-hyun Woo, CEO of Asia Economy; Deok-soo Han, Prime Minister; Ki-seop Kwon, Vice Minister of Employment and Labor; Shin-hwan Oh, Deputy Mayor for Political Affairs of Seoul; Lisa Son, Professor at Columbia University; Jin-sil Sung, Professor of Radiation Oncology at Yonsei Cancer Hospital; Yoon-kyung Kim, Head of Ascent Korea; Nari Kim, Team Leader at Seoul Design Foundation. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Soyeon] "We will actively support women to fully realize their talents and capabilities based on fair opportunities to achieve self-fulfillment."

President Yoon Suk-yeol said this on the 19th during his congratulatory speech at the opening of the '2022 Women Leaders Forum' held at the Crystal Ballroom of Lotte Hotel Seoul in Sogong-dong. He stated, "Many women in our society are already demonstrating their skills and leadership in their respective fields, but behind these achievements, there must have been numerous hardships." President Yoon added that as a solution to foster female leadership and establish a culture of gender respect, "we will focus on strengthening protection and support for women and socially vulnerable groups."

Following this, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said, "This forum is even more meaningful as Asia Economy, which has walked with women leaders for the past 10 years, expresses its intention to discover ‘Power K-Women’ looking ahead to the next 10 years." He continued, "I hope this becomes an excellent platform where women leaders active worldwide and future leaders can generously share their valuable wisdom and experiences, grow together, and build stronger solidarity."

Promises were also made to unite efforts in establishing systems to improve the rights of female workers and nurture women leaders. Kim Young-joo, Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly, said, "I want to share my experiences of advocating for the rights of female workers with all of you," adding, "I will strive to enable more women to grow and actively participate as leaders in our society."

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon emphasized, "Our society must produce more women leaders and support their challenges and achievements," stressing, "Above all, it is crucial to create systems and environments where women do not have to give up their dreams due to marriage, childbirth, or child-rearing and can fully demonstrate their talents."

On this day, Kim Hyun-sook, Minister of Gender Equality and Family, who attended as the presenter of the Asia Gender Equality Index Award encouraging companies actively building gender-equal organizational cultures, said, "To mitigate the economic shocks caused by demographic changes such as low birth rates and aging, expanding women's economic participation, fostering a culture where men and women work and care together, and ensuring a fair labor market environment are extremely important."

In his opening remarks, Woo Byung-hyun, CEO of Asia Economy, stated, "Korean women face all kinds of barriers and boundaries such as gender, race, disability, poverty, migration, and war, yet they do not yield to these obstacles but break or transcend boundaries to create new and universal values." He emphasized, "The Women Leaders Forum will serve as a platform to discover and widely promote K-Women to the world."

The Women Leaders Forum was launched in 2012 as the first international conference in Korea themed on female leadership. This year’s theme of the Women Leaders Forum is ‘Breaking Boundaries and Creating Value.’ Asia Economy selected and announced domestic and international women leaders fitting this theme as ‘Power K-Women.’ At the event, lectures by the 40 selected Power K-Women, stories of Korean women entrepreneurs’ global market strategies, and various discussions examining the achievements and significance of Korean women writers were held.