South Korea-Kuwait working to take relationship to higher level
KUWAIT CITY, Sept 27: South Korean Ambassador Chung, Byung-ha said Kuwait and South Korea are currently working to raise their relationship between the two countries to a new level, especially in the post-Corona virus pandemic era, and are seeking to expand the scope of cooperation between them in traditional fields, such as energy and construction and other new areas, such as medicine, health care, education, information technology, and smart city development.
He told the Al-Rai daily during an exclusive interview the two countries are also cooperating closely, to ensure the workflow of the major projects currently underway in Kuwait is not affected by the Corona virus pandemic, and disclosed the Kuwaiti government has allowed the engineers to enter the country to participate in the implementation of the projects undertaken by the South Korean companies, in conjunction with continued cooperation in the field of health care, which indicates the depth of relations between the two states.
He stated the Korean companies have contributed and implemented many vital huge projects in Kuwait, using their distinguished skills and modern technology methods, including the construction of the Jaber Bridge, the new Al-Zour refinery project, the environmental fuel project at Mina Al-Ahmadi Refinery, and the construction and operation of the Doha desalination plant in addition to using the latest Korean technologies to build the new city of Al-Mutla’a.
He revealed the volume of Kuwait’s imports from South Korea in 2020 was about 660.3 million dollars, a decrease of 30.9 percent, compared to last year, indicating that the volume
of Kuwait’s exports to South Korea was about 5.8 billion dollars, a decrease of 45.9%, due to the repercussions of the pandemic.
He made a particular mention of the Incheon International Airport Company which operates Terminal T4 at Kuwait International Airport, and provides excellent services to passengers and cargo.
The Korean government and Korean companies, he said, are ready to contribute to the realization of Kuwait’s Vision 2035 as a loyal partner of Kuwait.
Ambassador Byung-ha said, “This year, we celebrate the 42nd anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Republic of Korea and the State of Kuwait, during which we were able to consolidate cooperation in various fields, such as energy, construction and health, and build a comprehensive and mutually beneficial partnership that is heading strongly towards the future.” .
The Korean ambassador explained on the occasion of the National Day of the Republic of South Korea, which falls on October 3, the embassy intends to hold a number of limited cultural events related to Korean food, the Korean
language, and others in full compliance with the health guidelines.
The ambassador said the embassy will organize a short video competition for hanbok costume this month, to introduce the Kuwaiti community to the beauty of hanbok, where participants will have the opportunity to rent it without having to buy it, so that they can wear it and make their own video.
The embassy will also organize taekwondo courses, in addition to organizing courses for learning the art of writing Korean calligraphy on the occasion of the anniversary of the invention of Hangeul, the official alphabet of the Korean language, which falls on October 9, to introduce participants to the beauty of the Korean language (Hangul), and the participants will also have the opportunity to enjoy the experience of interaction between Arabic calligraphy and Hangul script.