Korea Times President-Publisher Oh Young-jin, left, and Kim Jae-kyoung, right, managing director of content and business planning, pose with university students appointed as The Korea Times' global supporters, during a welcoming ceremony at the newspaper's office in Seoul, Friday. In the front row from left are Yang Ji-eun, Lo Ching Lam from Hong Kong, Helia Nikzaddinan from Iran, Pham Thi Hong Hanh from Vietnam and Isadora Nunes Thomazini from Brazil. In the second row from left are Baghel Noopur from India, Lertsiriarmorns Wonsasikules from Thailand, Park Hye-bin, Shin Ji-min, Hwang Seo-young, Janine Anne Laddaran from the Philippines and Kim. In the third row from left are Oh, Song Ho-jae, Mason He from the U.S., Park Won-il, Park Won-hyuk, Lee Seung-chan, Shao Yihan from China, Wulandari Sabrinna from Indonesia and Ismoilov Shakhobiddin from Uzbekistan. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk

The Korea Times appointed 12 foreign and eight Korean university students as its global supporters to raise awareness and better promote various events and forums hosted by the newspaper until the end of July.

This is the first time for foreign students to join the group of supporters for the longest-running English-language newspaper in Korea, since the media outlet started appointing university students as its brand ambassadors annually in 2021.

The 12 foreign students come from Indonesia, Brazil, India, China, Iran, Hong Kong, the U.S., Thailand, Vietnam, Uzbekistan, the Philippines and Morocco. Fluent in Korean, all of them are currently studying at universities here.

A welcoming ceremony took place at the paper's office in central Seoul, Friday, during which Korea Times President-Publisher Oh Young-jin and Kim Jae-kyoung, managing director of content and business planning, thanked them for their participation.

"We hope you and our paper make positive changes for each other," Oh said. "We also want you to contribute to our society."

Kim asked the students to come up with fresh ideas for The Korea Times to view the world from a new perspective, amid the rapidly changing global media environment.

The 20 global supporters, all of whom are fluent in English and proficient in various social media, will be offered the chance to participate in a variety of events and forums hosted by The Korea Times, while promoting those events online and offline.

They are also tasked with serving as student reporters for the paper when needed.

"I have been working as an influencer on political issues, explaining important news in Korea to Brazil," said Isadora Nunes Thomazini, a Brazilian student who majors in political science and diplomacy at Yonsei University in Seoul. "I have around 40,000 followers on TikTok."

Ewha Womans University student Hwang Seo-young said that she wants to introduce Korean news to other countries in English, based on her experience managing a blog when she worked as a student ambassador for her school.

Once the global supporters fulfill their duties, The Korea Times will present them with certificates recognizing their participation as well as gift vouchers.

Outstanding participants will also be selected afterward to be awarded special prizes.