Ladies and gentlemen and distinguished guests. The KLF was established as a non profit organization in 2007 in order to include the Korean language in the public and private school curriculum so that young students in the U.S. have opportunities to learn the language, culture and history of Korea.

Despite the difficult last two years of COVID 19 pandemic including the more recent

Omicron variant, with your continuous and enthusiastic support the students learning Korean have increased from 26 students in 2010 at the Palisade Park High School to over 2500 in 18 middle and high schools this year. We are also proud that the number of certified Korean language teachers increased from practically none  to 29.  They are all  KLF scholarship recipients and similar numbers are in the process of completing the

requirements mainly from Rutgers University, Queens College and Stony Brook SUNY.

I am proud to report that in order to achieve the above KLF raised over $600,000 from the tri-state community.

At this time I would like to thank all of you attending this important remote zoom gala and those front line members who made this gala possible including all the executives, board members, advisory board members, teachers, scholarships recipients and volunteers.

Thank you.

미주한국어재단 이사장 김영덕

Board Chair Dr. Yung Duk Kim