About 300 journalists and media experts from more than 100 news organizations in 25 countries will gather in central Seoul this weekend to discuss the impact of new media in the Asia Pacific region, the event organizer said.

Kicking off on Friday, the East-West Center’s third International Media Conference will be held at Yonsei University through Sunday, under the theme, “Networked News: How new media is shaping stories in Asia and the Pacific,” said co-host EWC, a U.S. research and education organization based in Honolulu, Hawaii.

The biennial event was first held in Bangkok and the second, in Hong Kong.

There will be three main topics at the Seoul forum this weekend: How social media is shaping news stories on Friday, internet freedom and people power vs. government on Saturday, and the two Koreas ― most wired and most remote ― on Sunday.

On Friday, Victoria Esser, deputy U.S. assistant secretary for digital strategy, will speak on U.S. digital diplomacy and discuss its opportunities, challenges and impact during a lunch session at Yonsei’s Alumni Hall.

While Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has made the use of networks and technologies in U.S. foreign policy goals a priority, Esser is in charge of creating and managing the digital strategy for the State Department.

Riyaad Minty, head of Social Media at Al Jazeera, is another keynote speaker on Friday, who will share lessons learned from the Arab Spring about using new media.

Yoichi Funabashi, chairman of the Rebuild Japan Initiative Foundation and former editor-in-chief of the Asahi Shimbun, will speak on using new media in relation to the lessons from Fukushima.

Other topics on Friday include urbanization challenges and solutions in Asia’s mega cities, social media’s impact on NGOs and government, and media entrepreneurship.

On the second day of the forum, participants will talk about Internet freedom, digital innovation and the use of social media in reporting extreme stories.

During Sunday’s morning session, reporters specializing in North Korea will discuss how to cover the country in the digital age.

Lim Sung-nam, chief negotiator of the six-party nuclear talks for South Korea, Moon Chung-in, political science professor at Yonsei University and other experts will touch upon security issues in Northeast Asia.

The forum will be conducted in English, but Korean translation services will be available for keynote sessions.

“For us, it is meaningful to co-host a forum on change in the media with EWC in celebration of the 40th anniversary of foundation of our institute,” said Park Young-ryeol, director of the Institute of East and West Studies at Yonsei University.

“As journalists are most interested in North Korea issues on the Korean Peninsula, they will have a DMZ tour at the end of the forum as well,” he said.

By Kim Yoon-mi (yoonmi@heraldcorp.com)