United Nations Public Service Day Virtual Event (June 23)
- Interactive Panel Discussion on “Pandemic and Public Service Delivery” –

The Ministry of the Interior and Safety (Minister: Chin Young) will jointly hold a virtual event with the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) for one hour and 45 minutes from 10:00 pm (local time) on June 23 (Tue.) in observance of the UN Public Service Day.

This event will bring together high-level UN officials and public servants from the UN member states to share the best policies and practices in public administration through the Annual UN Public Service Awards (PSA) Programme and explore the role and the way forward of public services during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.

In particular, an interactive panel discussion will take place under the theme of “Pandemic and Public Service Delivery: Examining the Critical Role of Public Servants at Local and National Level in the COVID-19 Response” where panelists will share good examples of effective response to COVID-19 and examine the critical role of public servants in times of pandemic.

Mr. Chin Young, Minister of the Interior and Safety of the Republic of Korea, and Mr. Liu Zhenmin, Under-Secretary-General for UNDESA, will deliver opening remarks in their capacity as co-hosts. In light of the significance of the event, Mr. Antònio Guterres, UN Secretary-General (video statement), and Mr. Tijjani Muhammad-Bande, President of the UN General Assembly, were also invited to share their experiences and insights.

Keynote speakers include Ms. Sahle-Work Zewde, who has demonstrated outstanding leadership as the first female president of Ethiopia, and WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who is at the forefront of the global efforts to tackle COVID-19.

Subsequently, the interactive panel discussion will be joined by respected leaders and representatives: Ms. K.K. Shailaja Teacher, Minister of Health in the southern Indian State of Kerala, which was hailed as an exemplary case of responding to COVID-19; Mr. Jim Campbell, Director of WHO Health Workforce Division in charge of nurturing medical professionals; Ms. Annette Kennedy, President of International Council of Nurses, who represents nurses at the global level; and Ms. Rosa Pavanelli, General Secretary of Public Services International, who will speak about the indispensable role public servants have played amid this crisis. On behalf of the Republic of Korea, Dr. In-Jae Lee, Assistant Minister of the Interior and Safety, will participate in the discussion and introduce how Korea has flattened the curve of COVID-19.

The discussion will be live-streamed and accessible to anyone via the official website (www.2020unpublicservice.org), which also features △the announcement of 2020 UNPSA Winners, △videos in Special Thanks to Public Servants and △Korea’s Response to COVID-19.

This year’s UN Public Service Awards are granted to seven innovative projects. The Republic of Korea Seongdong District's HYO Policy received the honor of being rewarded the UNPSA for making health care services more accessible to the elderly people. Infographics for each UNPSA winner are provided in the 2020 UNPSA Winner section on the website to share success stories and lessons learned with other countries.

Meanwhile, the UN has prepared a video clip in order to pay homage to the work of public servants on the frontlines of COVID-19. This video created from global video submissions will be revealed during the opening session and provided on demand in the Special Thanks to Public Servants section on the website.

Korea’s Response to COVID-19 on the website presents various materials and videos prepared by the Korean government to promote and share its know-how and expertise in containing the pandemic. This section highlights a variety of factors such as Korea’s advanced healthcare system, consistent government innovation as well as the active public participation and cooperation as key contributions toward the prevention of the further spread of COVID-19.