Czech envoy donates books to HUFS

The Czech Ambassador has donated more than 300 books relating to his country to a Korean University.

Ambassador Jaroslav Olsa Jr. presented the books to Hankuk University of Foreign Studies last week. The donated books are either authored by Czech writers or about the Czech Republic’s culture and history.

The texts are mainly published in the Czech language, but Olsa also presented books on his country’s history, politics, literature, art and culture translated into English and Korean. He also donated a complete collection of volumes covering the history of Czech fantastic literature from its late 19th century beginnings up to recent bestsellers.

This gift will enlarge the already rich collection of more than 3,000 Czech-language books kept at HUFS’ Yongin campus library.

The gift was received by HUFS vice president Lee Hyun-hwan along with a group of professors of the department of Czech and Slovak studies. The department was established at the university in 1988.

Olsa also mentioned the Czech government’s interest in supporting Czech language studies abroad. Czech-language programs currently only exist outside of Europe in universities in Japan, China, North Korea, Mongolia, India, Vietnam, Azerbaijan, Egypt, the U.S., Canada and Australia.