Today, the international community faces a convergence of complex crises, including protracted geopolitical conflicts, growing fragmentation in the economic and technological spheres, the spread of national-first policies, and the weakening of multilateralism. Against this backdrop, there is an urgent need to explore new forms of cooperation and envision a renewed international order. Under the theme “Reinventing Cooperation in a Fragmented World,” this year’s Jeju Forum focused on five core agendas: cooperation for peace and prosperity amid geopolitical uncertainty; shared prosperity through artificial intelligence; global governance in the AI and digital era; international action for a sustainable future, including climate and energy transitions; and the role of local governments and communities in the glocal era. Through these discussions, the Forum provided a platform for public dialogue aimed at rediscovering the possibilities for cooperation in an increasingly fragmented world.

Distinguished participants included External Affairs Minister of the Republic of India Subrahmanyam Jaishankar; former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon; former President of the Republic of Indonesia Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono; former Prime Minister of Japan Yukio Hatoyama; a former Prime Minister of Mongolia Gombojav Zandanshatar; former Vice-Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany Philipp Rösler; Minister of Foreign Affairs Cho Hyun; Speaker of the National Assembly Cho Jeong-sik; and ambassadors to Korea from 24 countries. The Forum also brought together six candidates for the position of the next UN Secretary-General: Michelle Bachelet, former President of Chile and former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights; María Fernanda Espinosa, President of the 73rd Session of the UN General Assembly and former Foreign Minister of Ecuador; Rafael Mariano Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); Rebeca Grynspan Mayufis, Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD); Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, Permanent Representative of Guyana to the United Nations; and Macky Sall, former President of Senegal. Video messages were delivered by President Lee Jae Myung of the Republic of Korea, UN Secretary-General António Guterres, and Slovenian President Nataša Pirc Musar. Including the opening and closing ceremonies, the Forum featured 67 sessions, with participation from 55 institutions. A total of 6,062 participants from 76 countries attended, including 690 international participants.

In 2025, the international community is not only facing serious geopolitical instability—such as the intensification of strategic competition between the United States and China, ongoing wars in Europe and the Middle East, and escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula and in the Taiwan Strait—but also widespread concerns over the deepening climate crisis and the growing struggle for technological supremacy brought on by rapid advances in science and technology. The 20th Jeju Forum aimed to explore and gather innovative wisdom around the world to overcome the multifaceted and layered challenges under the theme of "Innovation for Peace and Shared Prosperity."
The Keynote speakers were Acting President of the Republic of Korea Lee Ju-Ho, former President of the Republic of the Philippines Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, former President of the Republic of Slovenia Danilo Türk, the 8th Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo, and Secretary-General of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat Wamkele Keabetswe Mene.
The Main participants were Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea Cho Tae-yul, former Foreign Ministers of the Republic of Korea Song Minsoon, Kim Sung-hwan, and Yun Byung-se, Former Commander of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command / Former U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Harry B. Harris Jr., and State Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of Slovenia Melita Gabrič .

The world today continues to suffer from conflicts and confrontations. Amid deepening security threats in the Indo-Pacific, the region will need to enhance cooperation to address deepening security threats and achieve sustainable peace and prosperity. The 19th Jeju Forum aimed to explore practical strategies to foster a more peaceful and prosperous world under the theme of "Acting Together for a Better World."
The Keynote speakers were Prime Minister of the Republic of Korea Han Duck-soo, former Prime Minister of Japan Fukuda Yasuo, Secretary-General of NATO Jens Stoltenberg, former Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of ASEAN Kao Kim Hourn and Executive Director of APEC Secretariat Rebecca Fatima Sta Maria and Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations & Executive Secretary of ESCAP Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana.
The main participants were Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea Cho Tae-yul, Minister of the Interior and Safety of the Republic of Korea Lee Sang-min, former Foreign Ministers of the Republic of Korea Song Minsoon, Yu Myung-hwan, Kim Sung-hwan and Yun Byung-se, Vice Chairperson of Committee on Foreign Affairs & House of Representatives of the Philippines Emigdio P. Tanjuatco III and Ambassadors to ROK from 30 countries.

Amid deepening security threats in the Indo-Pacific, the region will need to enhance cooperation and identify opportunities to achieve sustainable peace and prosperity. The 18th Jeju Forum brought together leaders and experts from government, business, and civil society to collaborate and provide solutions to address multiple crises in the region.
The keynote speakers were Prime Minister of the Republic of Korea Han Duck-soo, President of Timor-Leste José Ramos-Horta, Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea Kim Jinpyo, former Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon, and Under-Secretary-General for UN Political and Peacebuilding Affairs Rosemary A. DiCarlo.
The main participants were Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Republic of the Philippines Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez, the United States Ambassador to South Korea Philip Goldberg, Ambassadors to ROK from 35 countries, 20 members of the National Assembly, 100 members of parliament, and a delegation of businessmen from ASEAN countries.

Today, the world is mired in multiple conflicts and crises, from the Russo-Ukrainian war to the US-China rivalry, the COVID-19 pandemic, and climate change. Proposing coexistence and cooperation as its core agenda, the seventeenth forum sought to chart a roadmap to peace beyond conflict and served as a platform for public discussion.
The keynote speakers were the Prime Minister of the Republic of Korea Han Duck-soo, President of Timor-Leste José Ramos-Horta, former President of Indonesia Megawati Sukarnoputri, former Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon, Governor of Maryland Larry Hogan, and Assistant Secretary-General for Europe, Central Asia and the Americas in UN DPPA Khaled Khiari. The main participants were the Director of ICBL-CMC Hector Guerra (ICBL-1997 Nobel Peace Prize laureate), and International Steering Group Member of ICAN Maria Eugenia Villarreal (ICAN-2017 Nobel Peace Prize laureate).

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the Jeju Forum has carried on the tradition of opening up to the public and participants across borders, leading the discourse on sustainable peace and prosperity. In particular, this year’s forum celebrated the thirtieth anniversary of the South Korea–Soviet summit on Jeju in 1991, which gave birth to the idea of designating Jeju as “The Island of World Peace” and revisited what the end of the Cold War implied for peace in Northeast Asia.
The keynote speakers were Prime Minister of the Republic of Korea Kim Boo-kyum, former President of France François Hollande, former Prime Minister of Australia Kevin Rudd, former Prime Minister of Thailand Abhisit Vejjajiva, and former Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon. The main participants were Emeritus Professor of Politics and International Relations of the University of Oxford Archie Brown, Professor of MIT Abhijit Banerjee (2019 Nobel Prize in Economics laureate), former Professor of Freie University at Berlin Werner Pfennig, former President of the Soviet Mikhail Gorbachev (1990 Nobel Peace Prize laureate), and former President of Republic of Colombia Juan Manuel Santos (2016 Nobel Peace Prize laureate).