On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of establishment of the diplomatic relations between the Republic of Korea and the former Czechoslovakia, the exhibition „Story of Czech-Korean Contacts“ was officially opened by former Czechoslovak Minister of Foreign Affairs, now Senator, Hon. Jiří Dienstbier on March 23, 2010. In a presence of the president of Korea Tourism Organization Mr. Charm Lee, number of ambassadors of European Union countries and Canada, Norway and El Salvador and many people actively supporting the Czech-Korean relations, the former minister Dienstbier also awarded three distinguished gentleman, the first Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to Prague Mr. Sun Jun-young, and the first two Korean experts in Czech language, prof. Kwon Jae-il and Prof. Kim Kyuchin, with the Medal of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic.

There is a long history of Czech-Korean contacts, which started as early as in 1886, when the first Czech set foot on Korean soil. Since then Czech and Korean history has been interconnected many times – although our countries are divided by half of a planet. It was The Czechoslovak Legion which was helping Korean independence activists and fighters in 1918-1920 (see http://www.mzv.cz/public/5a/a8/87/342876_147777_Czechs_Backed_March_1_Movement.pdf), you can learn more about the times when then Socialist Czechoslovakia was an ardent supporter of North Korea (in the 1950s) until the collapse of Socialist bloc in 1989 and had no relations with the Republic of Korea (see http://www.mzv.cz/seoul/en/bilateral_relations/czech_korean_encounters_through_the/relations_between_former_czechoslovakia.html), and a lot of information on Czech-Korean relations in all fields is also available there.

The exhibition is opened for public at Czech Info Center from March 24 to the beginning of May.

During the whole April, the documentary film Accidential Army: The True Story of The Czechoslovak Legion on the history of 60,000 strong Czech and Slovak army made of prisoners of war during the World War I which fought the Bolshevik forces in the Far East. More about The Czechoslovak Legion and the film at www.czechlegion.com and www.czechlegion.net

Film will be shown in original English version at Czech Info Center throughout April

on Thursdays April 1, 8, 15, 22, 29 at 16:00

on Wednesdays March 31, April 7, 14, 21, 28 at 17:30