한국항공우주연구원

Dr. Yi So-yeon returns to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon the UN flag, symbolizing the friendship between Korea and the UN.

The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (Minister Kim Do-yeon) announced that it would hold a ceremony at the Hyatt Hotel Seoul on Thursday, July 3, where a UN flag carried by Dr. Yi So-yeon, the first Korean astronaut, to the International Space Station would be returned to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

The UN flag to be returned by Dr. Yi to Secretary-General Ban was provided by the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affair through the Korean Embassy to Austria on February 21 of this year and arranged by the Ministry accepting the proposal for an ‘ISS performance’ tabled by the Office.

Dr. Yi carried the UN flag to the ISS (Apr. 8 ndash Apr. 19) and staged a performance symbolizing the friendship between Korea and the UN before returning to the ground, which flag would be returned on Ban’s visit to Korea. Dr. Yi is planning to present an outer space picture of her with Sergei Volkov and Oleg Kononenko, members of the crew of Soyuz TMA-12, as a gift to the Secretary-General.

Second Undersecretary of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology Park Jong-gu, Korean Ambassador to the UN Park In-guk, and Russian Ambassador to Korea Ivashentsov will be celebrating the collaboration between Korea and the UN in producing the first Korean astronaut in this UN flag returning ceremony, expected to promote collaborative relationships between Korea and the US.