Hyun made his first visit to North America after his inauguration as Executive Vice-chairperson of the Council starting with Toronto, Canada. On Aug. 8 at the Korean Community Hall in Toronto, Hyun presented the letter of designation to the 16th Toronto Municipal Chapter members on behalf of the Chairperson, President Park, at the inaugural session to launch the Toronto Municipal Chapter attended by 165 persons, including the members and overseas Koreans living in the area. Ambassador Jeong Kwang-kyun to Canada and Lee Jin-soo, Chairperson of the Korean Associations in Toronto, as well as the old Mr. Ahn Byung-won, composer of "Our Wish is Unification," were among the VIPs. Mr. Ahn himself conducted when they sang the song of unification.

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  Event Hall

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  Presenting the Letter of Designation to the advisers

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  Presenting the letter of designation to the head of municipal chapter

"It is meaningful to hold the inaugural session at the Toronto Korean Community Hall, and I hope new history of the Korean community in Toronto will be made at this hall," Hyun said in his opening speech. According to him, the roles and responsibilities of the 16th National Unification Advisory Council is very important since President Park decided on "Building the Foundation of Peaceful Unification" as one of the 4 keynotes of her administration. National unification will not be impossible during the term of President Park Geun-hye if and when the will and desire of each and every overseas Korean, including those in Toronto, can be consolidated firmly," he stressed.

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  Hyun Kyung-dae, Executive Vice-chairperson of the Council

  Meanwhile, Choi Jin-hak, Head of the Toronto Municipal Chapter of the Toronto Committee of the 16th Council, said that the basic foundation is “I keep my promise first,” and that all the advisers are consequently required to promise to participate in the works of the Council most actively. He suggested singing with their hands joined, and all the attendants became one when they sang the song aloud

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  Chorus of Our Wish is Unification

  "Member of the National Unification Advisory Council is a great honorary position, but it requires responsibility and duty. We should consider the purpose of existence of the advisers as well as what they should do," said Kim Ki-cheol, Vice-chairperson of the US Municipal Chapter, in his congratulatory speech. He then emphasized the practical roles of the advisers.
  
  According to Jeong Kwang-kyun, consul general to Toronto, this year is the 50th anniversary of establishing diplomatic ties between Korea and Canada and the 60th anniversary of the Armistice Agreement. “I wish all the members and compatriots living in Toronto will be united and harmonized in one mind and one will to broaden international support for the government policy of the ‘Korean Peninsula Trust-Building Process’ and establish a solid foundation of peaceful unification of the country," he said.
  
  The inaugural session lasted for about an hour; the second part of the inaugural session was the special lecture on the government policy for the North. Prof. Lee Heon-kyung of Dongah University said that the most important cause of the downfall of communism was the economic factor. In spite of the worsening economy of North Korea, it has not collapsed due to support from China. Nonetheless, the fact that Chinese policy toward North Korea is changing due to the successful summit talks between President Park and her Chinese counterpart is very meaningful. The unification of the Korean Peninsula will be possible when the door of a changing North Korea is opened gradually and the Korean Peninsula Trust-Building Process is built step by step with international support.

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  Lecture on National Unification

  After the conference and lecture, all the participants sang "Our Wish is Unification" with the old composer of the song, Mr. Ahn Byung-won, conducting as a fitting end to the two-hour inaugural session. Meanwhile, Hyun, Executive Vice-chairperson of the Council, proceeded to Chicago to attend the inaugural session to launch the Chicago Municipal Chapter and municipal chapters of Boston (Aug. 11~13), New York (Aug. 13~15), Philadelphia (Aug. 15~17), and Washington D.C. (Aug. 17~20) and returned home on Aug. 21.