Northern Illinois University President Lisa C. Freeman (front, third from left) and Sunfull Foundation Chair Min Byoung-chul (front, fourth from left) pose with professors, school officials and alums during the "K-Respect" declaration ceremony held at the university in DeKalb, Illinois, Oct. 18. (Sunfull Foundation)

The “K-Respect” campaign, launched by Seoul-based civic group Sunfull Foundation to promote respect for all cultures, has reached the United States, bringing Korean and US leaders together at two recent events.

The first event, held at the Northern Illinois University in DeKalb on Oct. 18, saw the US university’s faculty members, officials and alums gather to mark the campaign’s first declaration in the US.

Joan Phillips-Hernandez, dean of the NIU's College of Business, said, "NIU is honored to collaborate with the Sunfull Foundation on this campaign, which aligns perfectly with our mission to create an inclusive environment where students from various cultural backgrounds can thrive."

Among the attendees were Yeo Tae-su, consul from the Consulate General of Korea in Chicago, Theresa Chung, chair of the Korean American Presidents Association in the US and John K. Min, senior partner and attorney at Dentons Lee.

The “K-Respect" campaign was launched in March 2023 in Seoul by Min Byoung-chul, Sunfull's founder, a multicultural educator and endowed chair professor at Chung-Ang University's Business School, to replace prejudice and discrimination with mutual understanding, inclusion and respect for multicultural communities and all ethnicities, ultimately reducing social conflicts across cultures in our global era.

Following the NIU campaign, the Sunfull held a second K-Respect campaign on Oct. 22, in Los Angeles’ Koreatown, with Korean American leaders in attendance.

Members of the Korean American community pose for photos in front of the LAPD station in Koreatown, Los Angeles, on Oct. 22, as part of the "K-Respect" campaign event. (Sunfull Foundation)

At the US launch of his initiative, Min emphasized that the campaign’s message of kindness, acceptance and respect is one for everyone to share, highlighting participation from other countries, including Indonesia and the Philippines.

According to him, Gandhi Sulistiyanto, former Indonesian ambassador to South Korea and currently a member of the Indonesian Presidential Advisory Council, has expressed hope that the K-Respect campaign will be introduced in Indonesia, one of the most culturally and ethnically diverse countries in the world. Sulistiyanto serves as co-chair of the K-Respect campaign.