Ahead of World Korean Day (October 5), the Overseas Koreans Agency is holding "World Korean Week" from September 27 to October 1.

This year's World Korean Week brings together major diaspora events that were previously held separately: the World Korean Community Leaders Conference, the World Hansang (Korean Businessmen) Convention, the World Korean Next-Generation Convention, and the Korean Festival. The initiative aims to connect the diaspora community as one across countries, regions, fields, and generations. A total of 1,300 people—including Korean community leaders from around the world, overseas Korean businesspeople, and next-generation Koreans active in the economic, cultural, scientific, and educational fields—will visit their homeland.

▷ The event kicking off World Korean Week is the World Korean Community Leaders Conference, running from Sunday, September 27 to Tuesday, September 29. This year’s conference will feature a welcome dinner, panel discussions on regional issues, presentations of best practices for Korean associations, a plenary session, and a closing ceremony. The community leaders will also attend the 20th World Korean Day commemorative event held during the conference. This year marks the first time that the General Assembly of the World Korean Community Leaders Conference will be organized directly by the private sector rather than the government. Ahead of this, the Overseas Koreans Agency elected Koh Sang-gu, president of the Federation of Korean Associations Worldwide, as the chairperson of the Steering Committee for the 2026 World Korean Community Leaders Conference last March.

The World Hansang Convention, where overseas Korean businesspeople meet domestic companies, will be held from Monday, September 28 to Wednesday, September 30. The World Hansang Convention is the largest diaspora event, drawing some 3,000 participants, including overseas Korean businesspeople and domestic small and medium-sized enterprise representatives. Celebrating its 24th anniversary since its inception in 2002, this year's event will once again feature corporate exhibitions and export fairs as its main programs. A total of 340 booths will operate across halls 1 to 3 of Songdo Convensia, showcasing K-beauty and food products as well as IT and biotech items. Some 150 global buyers will also participate. In addition, a variety of programs will be held, including 1-on-1 business matchmaking sessions, a startup competition, investment attraction briefing sessions, and the Young Business Leaders Forum. Similar to the community leaders conference, the World Hansang General Assembly will be held under private-sector leadership for the first time. The inaugural private-sector steering committee chairperson is Hwang Byeong-gu, president of the Federation of Korean Associations in USA. File photo: Opening ceremony of the 23rd World Korean Business Convention held in Atlanta, USA, in April of last year.

▷ The World Korean Next-Generation Convention will run from Tuesday, September 29 to Thursday, October 1. Participants will review the activities of the FLC (Future Leaders’ Conference)—the representative network of the World Korean Next-Generation Convention—and discuss plans for network operation. On the 30th, policy discussions for the next generation will take place, alongside a schedule to meet with the Vice Speaker of the National Assembly.

▷ The Overseas Koreans Agency has also prepared events for both overseas Koreans and domestic citizens, conducted under the name of the World Korean Convention. These events include a town hall meeting for overseas Koreans hosted by Kim Kyung-hyup, Commissioner of the Overseas Koreans Agency; a "Peace-Building Social Dialogue" hosted by the Ministry of Unification; and a "Generation-Empathy Round Table" where senior and junior generation compatriots can meet. In the evening, the "2026 Korean Festival" will take place, featuring overseas Korean musicians alongside domestic singers Sandara Park and Gummy. World Korean Next-Generation Convention

▷ The 20th World Korean Day commemorative ceremony will be held at 5:00 PM on Tuesday, September 28. Since establishing World Korean Day on October 5 in 2007, the South Korean government has commemorated the day annually by awarding honors to overseas Koreans and domestic contributors who have helped advance the Republic of Korea and the diaspora community. Traditionally, the President or Prime Minister attends the ceremony to personally present awards to representatives of overseas Korean meritorious persons. This year's ceremony will draw about 1,000 participants, including 380 attendees from the World Korean Community Leaders Conference, 300 from the World Hansang Convention, and 70 from the World Korean Next-Generation Convention.