The Far East Department held a seminar on the Sustainable Development Goals

On October 4, 2024, as part of social and educational events to familiarize first-year students of the department with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Senior Lecturer Ismailova S.Zh. held a seminar on "Eradicating Poverty in South Korea".

The SDGs are an action plan until 2030 adopted by the UN in 2015. The 17 goals for transforming our world are aimed at improving well-being and protecting our planet. The Sustainable Development Goals cover current human rights issues and set specific objectives for strengthening society and human dignity.

The first goal on this list is to end poverty in all its forms everywhere. In the world, the number of people living in extreme poverty has decreased from 36% in 1990 to 10% in 2015. But the pace of change is slowing, and the COVID-19 crisis risks zero out of decades of progress in the fight against poverty.

Poverty eradication is a pressing issue for South Korean society. Despite stable economic growth and high living standards, the fight against poverty is a priority for the state. Poverty in South Korea mainly affects the elderly: almost half of them live in relative poverty, which is the highest share among OECD countries.

 During the seminar, options for solving the problem of poverty in South Korea were discussed. Students actively asked questions and suggested ways to solve social problems in the Republic of Korea. As indirect causes of poverty, students noted the problems of the aging nation and the unemployment rate in South Korean society. During the discussion of the topic of the seminar, proposals were put forward to lower the tax rate for small and medium-sized businesses, to increase the retirement age and to allocate state funds for socially vulnerable groups of the population of South Korea.

The topic of the seminar aroused great interest and lively discussion among the students, and the lecturer Ismailova S.Zh. suggested exploring this topic in the framework of course and research papers and recommended continuing the study of the SDGs in subsequent departmental lectures and seminars devoted to this topic.

Senior lecturer of the Far East Department

Ismailova S.Zh.