오바마가 외대를 선택한 이유는?

[넉넉하게]

Why was HUFS picked as Obama’s speech venue?

  03-27-2012 17:54

Students listen to U.S. President Barack Obama speak Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in Seoul, Monday.

By Kim Rahn

United States President Barack Obama’s speech at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies (HUFS) Monday will certainly become a boon for the university to promote its image as a global school.

But why was it picked, leaving other universities jealous? This was the first time for an incumbent U.S. president to visit and give a speech at a university here.

An official of the U.S. Embassy said the embassy suggested some schools and it was the White House that picked HUFS.

“The White House asked us to recommend some candidate schools, presenting some conditions. After we did, the White House selected. We don’t know the exact criteria, but various things must have been considered, such as the size of the school, school reputation and security issues,” the official said.

An official from HUFS said it seems the embassy looked for a suitable school in January and February and the school was informed of the final decision only five days before the event.

“We don’t know exactly why we were picked but we presume the school’s image agreed with Obama’s philosophy, pursuing multilateral, peaceful diplomacy and emphasizing foreign language study,” he said.

The university provides lectures in 45 languages, and Obama said in his speech, “This school has one of the world’s finest foreign language programs.” HUFS also has held International Model United Nations Assemblies for collegians every year since 1995.

It is also said the North Korean defector issue may have affected the speech venue selection, as many students who have defected from the North are enrolled at HUFS compared to other schools. In his speech, Obama mentioned North Korean defectors by saying: “Come and see some of the courageous individuals who join us today _ men and women, young and old, born in the North, but who left all they knew behind and risked their lives to find freedom and opportunity here in the South.”

Among the school’s 20,000 students, 700 were lucky to attend the speech through a random selection process.

Na In-ae, a senior majoring in interpretation and translation of Italian, said she arrived at the speech venue at 6:50 a.m. for the event scheduled for 10:30 a.m. but a lot of students were already in a queue.

“I had heard Obama has a keen interest in Korea but I didn’t feel like it was real. But watching him speak about Korean mobile messenger Kakao Talk, I realized he really does and I was proud. Also he came to my school, and it seemed that HUFS was really a global school in the way that it has always promoted itself,” she said.

오바마가 외대를 선택한 이유는?


버락 오바마 미국 대통령의 강연은 한국외국어대학교가 글로벌 대학으로서의 이미지를 구축하는데 큰 도움이 되었음에 분명해 보인다.

그렇다면 왜 다른 대학들의 부러움을 차지하며 외대가 뽑혔을까? 현직 미 대통령이 한국의 대학에서 연설을 한 것은 이번이 처음이었다.

미 대사관 관계자에 따르면, 대사관이 몇 개 대학을 추천하고 백악관이 최종 결정을 했다고 한다. 이 관계자는 “백악관이 우리에게 몇 개 후보를 선정해달라고 했고 최종적으로 외대를 골랐다. 어떠한 기준으로 뽑았는지 우리도 자세히는 모르지만, 학교 크기, 평판, 경호 등 여러 가지가 고려됐을 것이다”라고 말했다.

한 외대 관계자는, 대사관이 1-2월에 후보들을 알아봤던 것 같고 외대가 선정 통보를 받은건 불과 강연 닷새 전이었다고 한다. 이 관계자는 “선정 이유를 말해주진 않았지만, 다자 평화외교를 지향하고 외국어 공부의 중요성을 강조하는 오바마 대통령의 평소 철학과 우리 학교의 이미지가 맞지 않았나 생각한다”라고 말했다.

외대에는 45개의 외국어 강좌가 있고, 오바마 대통령도 연설에서 “이 학교의 외국어 프로그램은 세계에서 몇 손가락 안에 든다”라고 말했다. 외대는 또 1995년부터 매년 전국 대학생 유엔모의총회를 개최하고 있다.

탈북자 문제가 고려됐을 것이라는 추측도 있다. 외대에 탈북 대학생이 많고 오바마 대통령도 연설에서 탈북자 참석자들에 대해 거론하기도 했다.

rahnita@koreatimes.co.kr