U.N.-themed photo exhibit to open in Seoul Wednesday

SEOUL, Aug. 9 (Yonhap) -- Yonhap News Agency, South Korea's key wire service, is opening a unique exhibition of press photos on Wednesday to raise awareness of the United Nations' goals toward sustainable development and environmental protection.
The show coincides with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's trip to his homeland, during which he will attend the opening ceremony along with National Assembly Speaker Park Hee-tae, Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik, Grand National Party leader Hong Joon-pyo and some 150 other influential figures.
Ban, who arrived in Seoul earlier Tuesday, is here for the first time since he was re-elected to the top post of the global body in June.
The exhibition is the first of its kind to be held in South Korea and will feature more than 80 winning entries from last month's Yonhap International Press Photo Awards (YIPPA). It will open to the public on Thursday free of charge and run through Sept. 30 at Culture Station Seoul 284, the recently renovated building that used to house Seoul Station.



The award-winning works were selected from a total of 1,938 pieces, or 5,536 photographs, submitted to the YIPPA by photojournalists and freelancers working in 71 countries. Their depictions of human suffering and environmental threats aim to highlight the U.N.'s eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which include freedom from extreme poverty and hunger, achievement of universal primary education and the eradication of diseases.
The contest's top prize went to Emilio Morenatti, a photojournalist for The Associated Press, for his photos of cholera victims in Haiti last year.
Other winners included Mohammad Moniruzzaman of The Daily Samakal; Bethany Clark, a freelance photographer; Alex Masi of Corbis; Nicolas Asfouri of Agence France-Presse; Hiroto Sekiguchi of The Yomiuri Shimbun; and Cho Young-ho of The Hankook Ilbo.
Their works showed a child laborer in a paint factory, a mother with her ill infant, seal-hunting in Greenland's melting glaciers as well as other striking images from across the globe.
The exhibition is supported by the U.N., the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, and will run from Aug. 22 to Sept. 9 at the U.N. Headquarters Visitors' Lobby in New York. Starting later this month, it will also tour seven major South Korean cities, including Busan, Daegu and Gwangju.
Yonhap said it plans to hold the exhibition biennially and donate its proceeds to U.N. funds for disaster and poverty relief and environmental protection.



hague@yna.co.kr