Annual General Meeting, 8 March 2016

Written by: Ian Simm | Posted on: March 21st, 2016

Some 40 members of the Society attended this year’s AGM, held in the Korean Cultural Centre in London.

Chargé d’Affaires Mr Kim Deuk-hwan (3rd left) with members of the BKS Committee

Introducing the meeting, Chairman Warwick Morris noted some apologies, including from British Joint President Dr Robert Hawley, and the Korean Joint President Ambassador Lim, a strong supporter of the Society, who had been recalled to Seoul to become First Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs. He noted the recent departure of the KCC Director Mr Kim Kab-soo, and thanked him and his staff for their constant support of BKS events.

In the absence of the Ambassador, Chargé d’Affaires Mr Kim Deuk-hwan kindly spoke to the meeting, congratulating the Society on its 60th anniversary and noting its welcome contribution to the strengthening relationship between the UK and ROK. He wished BKS a long and successful future, and noted his intention to play a part in the society himself.

The Chairman then welcomed the imminent arrivals of new Ambassador Hwan Joon-kook and new KCC Director Yong Ho-seung: the Society looked forward to getting to know both.

In his formal report, the Chairman looked forward to the coming year during which BKS would celebrate the 60th anniversary of its founding in 1956. The Society runs through the efforts of volunteers, notably the committee, and also with the help of donors and sponsors, private and corporate. He echoed Chargé Kim in marking the contribution of BKS to developing better relations between the UK and Korea by providing an environment in which those interested in Korea, and Koreans resident in the UK, can meet and build networks in an atmosphere of friendship.

Committee members were largely willing to continue in their roles, with the exception of Dr Hyunick Kim, who was standing down due to pressure of work. Sir Stephen Brown, a past chairman, who had left the committee but continued to help in building sponsorship, was passing that role on to the Chairman and Derek Marsh.

In addition to continuing improvements to our website and our presence on social media, BKS had held a variety of events in the past year. Notable were an illustrated talk on North Korea held jointly with SOAS, an update on events on the Korean peninsula with the British Ambassadors to Seoul and Pyongyang, viewing Korean treasures at the British Library and a London walk with Blue Badge Guide and BKS member Sue King. Ambassador Lim kindly hosted a Chuseok celebration at his residence, and Baroness Perry was our host at the reception at the House of Lords, which attracted an excellent attendance. Early in the new year, we held an introduction to the game of Baduk with representatives from the British Go Society. The Chairman thanked Sylvia Park for her organisation of our events programme.

The British Korea Veterans Society was formally disbanded a year ago, though a number of veterans remain BKS members. The Chairman recalled the tragic death in October of the last President of BKVA, General Mike Swindells, while on holiday in Italy. One of his last public engagements was to attend the first Korean War armistice ceremony to be held at the new memorial in Embankment Gardens.

The full text of the BKS AGM 2016 Chairman’s Report.

In his Treasurer’s report, Chris Hollands introduced the accounts for the year, which show a generally healthy financial situation. He welcomed the sponsorship of £5,000 per year for 2015-2017 from Samsung Electronics and noted that the committee had agreed to reduce the subsidy to individual events, which means that income and expenditure are better in line. A decision had also been made to reduce the accumulated reserves through an outreach programme, so some £4,000 had been drawn down during the year.

Peter Poole, Membership secretary, said that membership remains stable at about 200, although some members have not yet paid their subscriptions for the year.

Bursary recipient Mr Chae Seung-hoon gives his presentation

Introducing the Outreach programme, Ian Simm noted that – in line with earlier remarks by the Chairman and Chargé Kim – our aim was to allocate modest funding to proposals which would enhance the UK-Korea relationship. We had awarded 9 grants totalling £4,700 during the year, and the British Association for Korean Studies had kindly continued their support by identifying 4 post-graduate students as bursars, each of whom received £1,000.

Sylvia Park outlined plans for events during 2016, including another London Walk and a 60th anniversary dinner at the House of Commons in November. She hoped that the new Korean Ambassador would continue his predecessor’s tradition of hosting a Chuseok celebration. Earlier, the Chairman said he was pursuing a possible business event at the Mansion House in September in connection with the Lord Mayor of London’s visit to Korea in the summer.

To close the meeting, one of the Society’s bursary recipients, Mr Chae Seung-hoon, gave a short presentation on his work towards a Master’s in Politics at the University of Oxford. He had conducted over 80 interviews with North Korean refugees living in New Malden to assess their engagement with the politics of the Korean peninsula and had found some interesting contrasts with similar studies of refugees in South Korea. Notably, a fair proportion of refugees in the UK ran their own businesses and on the whole they were more prosperous than their counterparts in Korea.

There being no other business, the meeting was followed by a Korean buffet and an opportunity to make new acquaintances and renew old friendships.