International cultural leaders will gather next month in Seoul to experience Korean culture and discuss how to better promote it.

The Corea Image Communication Institute will invite 14 cultural icons from around the world to its third 2012 Culture Communication Forum from Sept. 4-6. The CICI organized the C20 (Culture 20) side event during the G20 Seoul Summit in 2010.

“The third CCF is an event that facilitates cultural communication among the participating leaders and helps them learn Korean culture and promote their culture at the same time. The forum seeks to become a cultural Davos Forum where the world leaders find common ground in culture,” said Choi Jung-wha, head of the organizing committee of the forum and president of the CICI.

“It means a lot because the forum is led by Korea. I hope the forum plays a big role in cultural communication among the leaders and enhances Korea’s image as well,” Choi added.

The participating leaders include Vladimir Tolstoy, director of Yasnaya Polyana, the State Memorial and Natural Preserve Leo Tolstoy Museum-Estate and a great-great grandson of Leo Tolstoy; Dominique Wolton, director of the journal Hermes and former communication advisor to the French President Nicolas Sarkozy; Hermann Parzinger, president of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation in Germany and Geraldine Doogue, an Australian journalist.

Kim Rando, the best-selling author of the mentoring book “Youth, It’s Painful” and a Seoul National University consumer studies professor, will participate in the event as well.

The cultural leaders will be welcomed at a reception luncheon on Sept. 4, followed by a piano concert by leading young Korean pianist Kim Sun-wook.

After that, a guided evening tour of Changdeok Palace, a UNESCO World Heritage site, will be led by the Culture Minister Choe Kwang-shik.

On Sept. 5, participants will visit the National Museum of Korea, a treasure trove of Korea’s cultural assets.

At the forum, the leaders will discuss ways to facilitate cultural communication internationally and Korea’s role for the task under the theme of “Communicating through Culture: The Key to Opening Hearts and Minds” at the Westin Chosun Hotel in central Seoul.

The group discussion will be followed by a keynote speech by Wolton on cultural globalization and Korea’s role, and a discussion conducted by Korean professor Kim Rando, who will talk about the world of digital media and miscommunication between generations.

A cultural night of communication on Sept. 6 will close this year’s CCF event, which will be attended by foreign envoys and local and foreign leaders who will contribute in the discussions held during the three-day forum.

The CCF 2012 is sponsored by the Foreign Ministry, the Culture Ministry and the Korean Overseas Culture and Information Service as well as businesses including Samsung Electronics, Hyundai Motors and Asiana Airlines.

By Lee Woo-young (wylee@heraldcorp.com)