Alena Lebedeva is a student of the academic programme ‘Organisation of Tourist Activities (with Advanced Study of the Chinese Language)’. She has become the winner of the 2nd Student Research Papers Competition named after the first envoy of Korea to Imperial Russia Lee Beom-jin. The competition was initiated by the Consulate General of the Republic of Korea in St Petersburg.

When opening the award ceremony, Consul General of the Republic of Korea in St Petersburg Byun Chul Hwan thanked all participants and experts for their research papers and assessment. In 2021, 60 papers were submitted for the competition, while the geography of participants expanded beyond St Petersburg.

Yulia Piskulova is the great-great-granddaughter of Lee Beom-jin, Expert Council Member and the President of Descendants of Korean Independence Fighters (the regional public organisation of descendants of the activists of the Korean independence movement 1910 to 1945).  In her welcoming address, she talked about the activity of the organisation and thanked the Consulate General of the Republic of Korea for continuous support.

I hope that the competition named after Lee Beom-jin has all the chances to become not just an annual contest, but a large scientific event of international scale.
Yulia Piskulova, the great-great-granddaughter of Lee Beom-jin and the President of Descendants of Korean Independence Fighters (the regional public organisation of descendants of the activists of the Korean independence movement 1910 to 1945)

The competition jury also included: Inna Tsoy, Associate Professor in the Department of Korean Studies at St Petersburg University; Vyacheslav Kalganov, Deputy Chair of the Committee for External Relations of St Petersburg; and Nina Shevchuk, Associate Professor at the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA).

The participants were given a task to determine the directions of further relations between the Republic of Korea and Russia based on the analysis of the current ties.

‘The work by Alena Lebedeva “The most promising spheres of economic cooperation between Russia and the Republic of Korea for the coming 30 years: hydrogen energy, digital technology and tourism” was devoted to the analysis of those areas of economy that require significant changes and innovative projects despite the established stable relationship between the governments of Russia and Korea,’ commented Iana Testina, Research Supervisor, Associate Professor in the Department of Country Studies and International Tourism at St Petersburg University.

Three participants became the winners of the competition. The best papers will be published in a special collection following the project results. Their authors will have an opportunity to visit South Korea as soon as the anti-covid restrictions are lifted.

The research is divided into three thematic parts that describe the current situation, offer theoretical proposals on its improvement and specific ways to implement these proposals.  Thus, in the sphere of hydrogen energy, it is extremely important for the Russian side to become adapted to new realities at the energy market in order to preserve the status of the major fuel supplier for the Republic of Korea. The cooperation between Russia and Korea in the field of digitalisation satisfies the interests of both countries. South Korea obtains a partner with the highest potential in the digital technology development, which helps the country in developing fundamentally new technologies. In its turn, due to Korean investments, Russia will be able to take the leading positions in the global digital community. As for tourism, programmes on developing transport accessibility of the countries to each other, introducing fundamentally new ways of overcoming the language barrier (developing applications aimed at Koreans travelling to Russia) and efficient interaction between international tourism operators will help to increase mutual touristic interest.

Noteworthy, in 2020, the University students were also among the winners of the competition named after Lee Beom-jin.