Juan David Latorre
The Korean Embassy last Tuesday hosted a reception on the occasion of the celebration of the Korean National Foundation Day, in which Ambassador Bahk Sahnghoon highlighted the “extraordinary” bilateral relations between his country and Spain.
The reception was attended by, among others, the president of the Constitutional Court, Juan José González Rivas; the former minister and honorary president of the Spain-Korea Chamber of Commerce, Josep Piqué; the ambassadors’ introducer, María Sebastián de Erice; the director of Casa Asia, Javier Parrondo; businessmen, ambassadors and diplomats from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
In his speach, after commenting on Korea’s very ancient history (more than 4,300 years old), the Ambassador pointed out that “Korea and Spain are, despite the geographical distance that separates them, allies with many aspects in common. Both countries share the experience of having overcome a painful civil war and dictatorship, and have become both mature democracies and important economic players in the world. Both countries are significantly increasing their contribution to the international community by sharing fundamental values such as democracy, freedom, human rights and the rule of law. Both peoples also carry in their DNA a desire to live life with passion and an appreciation of family and community values.
“The fact that the King of Spain visited Korea to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries, and the President of the Republic of Korea returned the visit to Spain only one year and 8 months later, despite the difficulties of the pandemic, symbolises how close the two countries are and how much they value each other”, underlinesd Bahk Sahnghoon.
“Spain and Korea raised their level of relations to “Strategic Partnership”, the ambassador continued, and with the signing of the cooperation agreement in the field of public health and Memoranda of Understanding on Industry 4.0, clean energy and Star Ups, among others, they laid the institutional foundations to strengthen their cooperation in future industries, such as the green and digital economy, biotechnology and health. In addition, the two countries have agreed to further promote their cooperation in various fields such as economy, trade, energy and infrastructure.”
Bahk Sahnghoon ended his speech by highlighting that “more and more Koreans follow live La Liga matches and enjoy the fine wines of La Rioja and Ribera del Duero, Iberian ham and paella. The number of Korean pilgrims visiting Spain to walk the Camino de Santiago is the seventh highest in the world, and in Spain there is a growing number of Spaniards enjoying K-Pop, Korean food, Korean films and dramas, and cosmetics, which are gaining popularity. In this way, we can see how our two peoples continue to get to know each other and become closer”.
The President of the Constitutional Court, Juan José González Rivas, then took the floor and pointed out the need to further deepen the knowledge between Korea and Spain, “discovering the common features of our respective countries and from the public institutions working to contribute to the improvement of our relations, not only legal, but also economic, social and political, which our peoples promote in international cooperation”. González Rivas ended by echoing the words that King Felipe VI expressed during the State visit that the President of the Republic of Korea made last June: “The interest of our peoples in getting to know our respective cultures, the solid projection of our societies, of our companies in a global world and, above all, developing the values and principles that we share and that decisively drive an ever deeper relationship between Korea and Spain”.
