The 47th Korea YMCA General Assembly & the 1st Youth Assembly

The National Council of YMCAs of Korea held the 47th Korea YMCA General Assembly & the 1st Youth Assembly under the theme of " Just Transformation with repentance (Mark 1:15)" at the Daegu Grand Hotel from July 11-13, 2024, attended by YMCA members all over the country (from 31 cities).

(Group photo for the 47th Korea YMCA General Assembly)

Youth Empowerment and the Vitalization of International Peace Movement

NGS Kim Kyung-min announced a two-year plan of the NCY-K and the highlight of the plan was vitalization of the youth empowerment movement and the international peace movement. The main strategy of the youth empowerment movement is to revitalize university YMCAs and youth YMCAs across the country. Currently, there are about 20 university YMCAs and 3 youth YMCAs (lead by post-university members), and NCY-K will expand them up to 40 university YMCAs and 30 youth YMCAs in 2026. In particular, NGS Kim explained that preparation of a charter amendment will be started to expand youth participation on the board of directors of NCY-K. In terms of the international peace movement, he said NCY-K would cooperate more with the international civil societies for peace on the Korean Peninsula and climate justice based on the resolution in solidarity with Korea YMCA for the end of the Korean War and the establishment of the World YMCA Pyongyang Liaison Office adopted at the 19th YMCA World Council (Thailand), the 20th YMCA World Council (Denmark) and the 21st APAY General Assembly (India).

(Song In-dong, the former president of NCY-Korea gives speech at the GA)

Announcement of Vision Declaration to celebrate the 110th anniversary of the founding of the Korea YMCA

To celebrate NCY-Korea’s 110th anniversary this year, NCY-K prepared the "110th Anniversary Vision Declaration" and announced it at this GA. The theme is 'Waves of Life, Wind of Peace, Everything New - Just Transformation with repentance -' and the biblical phrase based on is “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” (Mark 1:15). The five areas of movement the Vision Declaration focused on are 1) Peace 2) Climate Justice 3) Life Economy and People's Welfare 4) Digital Justice in the Age of Artificial Intelligence 5) New Culture Creation and Educational Curriculum Development. These are adjusted version of the four pillars of YMCA Vision2030 to suit the context of Korea. Especially NCY-Korea included a digital justice movement in the age of artificial intelligence. In addition, the basic tasks of the Korea YMCA were introduced as 1) Strengthening Readiness 2) revitalizing the Members’ initiative in YMCA Movement.

Shin Kwan-woo, the newly elected president at the GA remarked as "On the 110th anniversary of the Korea YMCA, NCY-Korea will work hard to carry out YMCA movement especially in the field of youth empowerment, climate justice, and digital transformation with cooperation with local YMCAs in Korea."

(1st Youth Assembly participants)

The NCY-Korea Held the first Youth Assembly which was held in GA

This year's the 47th Korea YMCA General Assembly held the Youth Assembly which was held in GA for the first time in the history of the General Assembly of the Korea YMCA. This Youth Assembly was attended by YMCA members from 14 university YMCAs and three youth YMCAs nationwide. The keynote speech was presented by Lee Hae-min, an IT expert who was a manager at Google Korea and was recently elected as a member of the 22nd National Assembly under the theme of "Age of Climate Crisis and Digital Transformation, what is Youth's Future." She emphasized, "It is important for everyone to share the benefits of the development of science and technology, not for a few people to monopolize the benefits of science and technology," and said that the government and the private sector should play roles together for equal access and democratization of technology.

(Youth participants are discussing on issue of climate crisis)

Group discussions were followed on four topics: 1) climate crisis 2) AI-digital transformation 3) inequality 4) self-improvement. In each group, discussions were facilitated by youth members. Main questions for the discussion were 1) how individuals and communities can respond to the climate crisis, 2) what inequality young people feel the most and how to solve it 3) who will take responsibility for the social impact of AI 4) the reasons for the lethargy of young people who give up self-improvement and employment. Based on the discussion, the participants wrote a resolution, and it was presented during the General Assembly.

YMCA, where the young people can make harmony

(Participants are dancing with a sing-along team)

In addition, at the Youth Assembly, YMCA youth members formed a sing-along team and lead singing time to make harmony of all the participants. The sing-along team, consisting of seven university YMCAs and one youth YMCA member, lead the stage with the conduction of Lee Jae-joon, a conductor of Saint Paul University Orchestra in the Philippines and former president of the Daegu YMCA. The songs played were selected ahead by the participants and everyone was able to have a good time singing together as one.

(Watch Korea YMCA sing-along https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZRvrOgqYHs)