A Korean farewell
Our good friend Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario hosted an intimate dinner at his private condominium residence for outgoing South Korean Ambassador Lee Hyuk. Diplomats such as Swiss Ambassador Ivo Sieber, new Japanese Ambassador Kazuhide Ishikawa, Canadian Ambassador Neil Reeder, Czech Ambassador Jaroslav Olsa Jr. and close friends were in attendance at the dinner. Ambassador Lee only served for about two and a half years but as Secretary Del Rosario remarked, he has been instrumental in strengthening bilateral and diplomatic ties between our two countries.
Bilateral trade between the Philippines and South Korea — which is our fifth biggest trading partner — exceeded $12 billion in 2014 but Ambassador Lee is optimistic that it could reach $20 billion in five years with increased cooperation and mutual promotion of goods and services from several sectors that include manufacturing, agriculture and tourism — all of which have the potential to generate thousands of jobs for Filipinos.
A positive development would be the upcoming ASEAN economic integration especially since the region has a huge consumer market of over 600 million people. This year, South Korea’s biggest bank, Shinhan, is set to open in the Philippines around the third quarter.
Not many know that the Philippines happens to be the first ASEAN nation that established diplomatic relations with South Korea in 1949 when the latter became a sovereign state. During the Korean War (1950 to 1953), some 2,000 Filipinos known as the Philippines Expeditionary Forces to Korea (PEFTOK) were sent as reinforcement.
Today, an estimated 100,000 Koreans reside in the Philippines, while about 50,000 Filipinos live and work in Korea, primarily in Seoul. Considering the strengthened relation over the years, it is perhaps not surprising that the top visitors to the country are South Koreans with an average 100,000 arrivals per month according to the Department of Tourism.
Ambassador Lee may be leaving for his next post but who knows, he may just be back to visit again. Haeng-un-eul bil-eo yo!
