The 35th IAA World Advertising Congress, to be held at the Korea Exhibition Center(KOEX)in Seoul June 9-12, 1996, will be the second to be held in Asia after the first in Japan. The Korean advertising industry now ranks second in Asia after Japan's and is among the top ten countries in terms of advertising expenditures.

In addition to being reflective of current values, morals, and attitudes of society, advertising enables the mass-marketing of products and services by conveying information on them to consumers through mass-communications media. Advertising's vital role in the modern economy and society has earned it the nicknames, "The Flower of Capitalism", and "The Third Product". The advertising industry is also being touted as the primary focal point of high value-added, strategic businesses which will lead the nation into the information age, fully capitalizing on state-of-the-art information and communication technology.

The International Advertising Association (IAA) was founded in 1938 by those engaged in advertising and related industries from all around the globe. It is devoted to protecting the freedom of commercial media and the consumer's right to choose, to promoting the advertising, to self-policing advertising, and to develping a strong pool of high-caliber professionals through education and training . Korea hopes that its hosting of the 35th IAA World Advertising Congress will translate into opportunities to promote the Korean advertising industry abroad as well as to publicize Korea's politics, economy, and culture throughout the world.