PHNOM PENH: A press conference was held by the Sunhak Peace Prize Foundation on Monday where it was confirmed there would be three winners to receive the Sun Hak Peace Prize in 2022, with Prime Minister Hun Sen as the first person and leader in ASEAN to receive this award. Three winners will be announced at the awards ceremony in February, including the co-founder of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, the GAVI vaccine alliance and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen.

The President of the Universal Peace Federation for the Asia-Pacific and the Special Envoy of the World Summit, Ek Nath Dhaka, said in a press conference attended by journalists from 197 institutions around the world that the Sunhak Peace Prize presented to Prime Minister Hun Sen reflects his leadership of sustainable development in Cambodia and in the Asia-Pacific region, for which he has been involved in many areas, especially as the 2022 ASEAN Chair, and while attending many international meetings.

"This is Cambodia's contribution to the region and to the world, where he [Prime Minister Hun Sen] can receive the Sunhak Peace Prize Founder’s Award," he said.

Prime Minister Hun Sen will travel to Seoul, South Korea on 10 February to co-chair the 2022 World Summit to Examine Ways to Bring Peace to the Korean Peninsula. While there, he will also receive the Sunhak Peace Prize on 12 February as planned. The prize includes a gold medal and $1 million dollars.

The Sunhak Peace Prize was established to recognize the dignitaries and institutions that have worked to serve humanity, to act as a model for making the world a better place for future generations, and created to commemorate the visions of peace of the founders, Sun Myung Moon and Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon.

Nine individuals have already received the award since its inception in 2015, including Senegalese President Macky Sall, former United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, Palestinian clergyman Bishop Muhib Younan, and African Development Bank President Akinwumi Ayodeji Adesina.