South Korea awards Rudaw Media Network with Certificate of Merit

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — South Korea's Consul General to Erbil presented a Certificate of Merit to Rudaw Media Network on Wednesday, awarded by the country’s foreign minister for its coverage of the consulate’s activities.

Kang Kyung-wha, foreign minister of South Korea said in the certificate that it was granted to Rudaw “In recognition of your dedicated assistance and outstanding contribution to activities of the Office of the Embassy of the Republic of Korea.”

The country’s Consul General to Erbil Choi Kwang-Jin visited Rudaw’s headquarters in the Kurdistan Region capital to present the certificate.

“As we are well aware, Rudaw TV is a famous media outlet not only in Kurdistan but also all around the globe. They played a pivotal and bridging role in enhancing bilateral relations between Korea and Kurdistan,” the consul general said in a speech at Rudaw’s headquarters.

“Now that we are entering a new historic chapter in our international relationship, we need a new paradigm of cooperation in terms of the corona pandemic and IT revolution,” he added.

Rudaw Media Network, a leading news outlet in Kurdistan Region, publishes in Kurdish, Arabic, Turkish and English. This has brought the network a large audience from inside Kurdistan as well as throughout Europe and North America.

“What we have done was something that needed to be done, but acknowledgment from a great country like South Korea is treasured and encourages us to do more good and professional work,” Rudaw Media Network’s CEO, Ako Mohammed said on Wednesday.

Mohammed called Koreans “our friends” and said he hoped to send Rudaw teams  to Korea to make the people of Kurdistan "more familiar" with the Korean culture. 

South Korea began providing services and establishing ties in the Kurdistan Region one year after the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Its companies have contributed education, energy and health services to the Region since then.

The consul general said in an op-ed published on Rudaw English in September 2020 that since 2004, the Korean humanitarian-military Zaytun division and the KOICA (Korea International Cooperation Agency) have successfully constructed more than 250 facilities in the Kurdistan Region, including 59 schools, 15 public health centers, the Zaytun hospital, the Zaytun library, the establishment of the KIPA(Kurdistan Institute of Public Administration) and e-procurement system, the provision of medical support for refugees, and the training of 1,500 Kurdistan Regional Government officials in Korea, as well as in-kind assistance worth of more than 60 million dollars.”

Updated 9:48am, April 15