President Yoon: Meloni to seek solutions for Italian tour guide exam issue

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has secured a commitment from Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to address the shortage of Korean-speaking tour guides in Italy. The agreement came during a summit where Yoon highlighted the growing number of South Korean tourists visiting Italy, estimated at one million annually, and the resulting difficulties due to a lack of official guides fluent in Korean.

The scarcity of guides is attributed to the prolonged suspension of the qualification exam and the recent high difficulty of the re-established test, which even challenges Italian applicants. This situation has created significant hardships for Korean residents working as guides and diminished the experience for Korean visitors seeking to fully appreciate Italy's history and culture.

President Yoon expressed his gratitude to Prime Minister Meloni and the Italian government for their "special attention and consideration" in agreeing to explore solutions. He noted that Meloni was already aware of the issue and proactively offered to collaborate on finding a resolution during their meeting.

In addition to the tourism issue, Yoon also held a bilateral meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. They discussed expanding strategic cooperation in advanced industries such as AI, energy, and defense, building on existing strong ties. Both leaders also pledged to continue strengthening cooperation on global challenges like supply chain stability and climate change. Merz reaffirmed Germany's commitment to peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula, a message Yoon found particularly meaningful given Germany's own history of division.