□ Sponsored by Korea Eximbank (www.koreaexim.go.kr, Chairman & President Yong Hwan Kim), the project to remodel a Korean language classroom at the Multicultural Family Support Center (Director Yoo Hyun Guem) in Singil-dong, Yeongdeungpo-gu was completed on September 7.
○ The project began August 16 after much discussion with Assembly member Hye Sung Kim who represents both the Multicultural Center and Multicultural Family Policy Research. The project was completed in only 20 days.

○ The renovations will allow children of multicultural families up to the age of 12 to learn Korean in a pleasant, better equipped facility*.

* Partitions and soundproofing for 1-1 lessons
* The latest audio-visual equipment such as touch screen computers
* Educational resources materials (Korean books)

○ Yeongdeungpo-gu has the largest number of multicultural families in Seoul (approximately 50,000 people). Recently, there has been a sharp rise in the number of children of Chinese and Vietnamese heritage so more language facilities are needed.

□ During the completion ceremony, Chairman Kim stated, “It is thought that many children of multicultural families fall behind in school due to the limited Korean skills of their parents. Through this project, I hope that they will be able to overcome the language barrier to stand proud as a Korean citizen.”

□ Representative Hye Sung Kim stated, “Most projects for multicultural families have been one day events and superficial. I hope there will be many more projects such as this one providing effective and needed assistance.”

□ Since 2007, Korea Eximbank has sponsored various projects for multicultural families such as the business start-up program. Lately, the bank has actively supported projects to build educational and care facilities in centers for multicultural families throughout the nation.

○ Moreover, Korea Eximbank annually donates over 1% of net profits and employees contribute a portion of their salaries to assist marginalized sectors of society.