Al-Azhar Grand Imam, Prof. Ahmad At-Tayyeb, received Mr. Hong Jin-wook, the Ambassador of South Korea to Egypt, after his assuming the responsibility of the South Korean Embassy in Cairo to discuss academic and cultural cooperation between Al-Azhar and Korea.

The Grand Imam of Al-Azhar wished the new Ambassador success, indicating that Al-Azhar is ready to establish academic and cultural relations with South Korea, provide Korean Muslim students with scholarships at Al-Azhar, and receive imams of mosques to train them to promote a culture of tolerance and peaceful coexistence, which Al-Azhar is always keen to consolidate. 

He stressed that Al-Azhar has a global mission based on disseminating the correct message of Islam, and consolidating a culture of cooperation and coexistence among people. The South Korean Ambassador expressed his appreciation of the efforts Al-Azhar is making inside and outside Egypt in order to promote dialogue and tolerance, and said that the Egyptian experience of coexistence is unique, forming a good example to follow.

The Ambassador also discussed with His Eminence the means of academic and cultural cooperation between Korea and Al-Azhar, and pointed out that there are about 160,000 Muslims in South Korea living in peace with their homeland partners. He noted that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has a program to enhance tolerance among all Koreans, and that it holds an Iftar reception for Muslims every year in South Korea, and another one at the Embassy here in Cairo during the month of Ramadan.