Koo Hong-seok, Ambassador of the Republic of Korea: Kazakhstan is a land of opportunity

Mr. Ambassador, You have been working here in Nur-Sultan, as an Ambassador for almost a year now. What are the main directions of our cooperation, do South Korea and Kazakhstan have new areas of cooperation?

Thank you for the mentioning. I have already spent one year in this lovely country. And I am very determined to make a more contribution from the future to come.

We are deepening our cooperation. Due to the current situation, I think we can reach four areas in the frame of the bilateral cooperation.

First of all, the cooperation in the healthcare sector. We go through the horrible pandemic situation. One of the medical institutes «Medical partners Korea» (MPK) in Almaty has been making a great contribution to conduct PCR tests in the fight against COVID-19. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev visited this center last year in May. Not only in this field but also in terms of construction and operation of hospitals, medical staff and academic exchanges these areas are very promising for two countries to deepen the cooperation.

The second area that I want to stress is the development of oil and gas industry. Definitely, Kazakhstan is one of the major oil and gas exporting countries to Korea. Kazakhstan’s Government is energetically developing oil and gas industry. I am aware that Kazakhstan’s Government is very keen to develop other new areas - for example, chemical and petrochemical industry. Korean Government wants to remain as one of the importing country of oil and gas from Kazakhstan. Korean Government and Korean companies are very willing to make a contribution for progress into downstream area and I invite Korean companies who are focused on this area.

Thirdly, we can think about the cooperation in the power generation - especially in a brand new area - alternative and renewable energy. Korea boosts excellent technologies. Actually, we had been making great contribution in South-East Asian countries and even the South and Middle America.

Korea and Kazakhstan have the cooperation in traditional energy sectors. Korean Government is working on new green deal policy which is based on low carbon energy. Kazakhstan’s Government is also talking about green economy policy.

I want to point out, that South Korea is one of the countries that supplies energy through the nuclear power plant, but safety first. Korea already has exporters and our country has skills in terms of nuclear energy power plant to the UAE. If there will be any chances for Kazakhstan’s Government and people consider the construction of the nuclear power energy plant, Korea could be considered one of the competent contributors. Even now Kazakhstan is exporting a vast amount of rhenium to Korea. I fully understand some concerns over the nuclear power plant among the Kazakhstan people, but safety first. If Kazakhstan someday decides to set up the plant, I have to say that Korean Government and industry will be very willing to cooperate with each other.

And finally, the cooperation in the ICT (Information and Communication technologies) sector. I think the ICT technology still does matter in the future. Korea is one of the very known countries in this regard. Recently Korean Government raised a flag of the new digital deal to make Korea much more flourished in ICT. Kazakhstan’s Government also has a long term goals in the frame of Digital Kazakhstan program. Two countries’ goal in this sector is very similar. ICT area could be one of the most promising in our cooperation.

So these four areas stress our cooperation. The motto of our cooperation in this area is «Expansion and diversification». We can expand and deepen our relationship in the traditional areas and diversify our cooperation. Two countries’ economy is very mutually beneficial.

How many Korean companies are currently working in Kazakhstan and

what new projects these Korean companies are working on?

According to our government, more than 300 Korean companies are doing their businesses in Kazakhstan. I am very happy to witness many Korean cars and also there are many companies focused on electronics. For example, such companies as Hyundai and Samsung, LG and so on. Not only big, but also small and medium sized companies are so much interested to make an investment and do business in Kazakhstan.

According to the stat from Kazakhstan’s Government, Korean investments to Kazakhstan are estimated at $8 billion. From Korean perspective Kazakhstan is, definitely, one of the largest investment destinations in Central Asia.

Also you can find companies focusing on house building, for example, Highvill. One of the construction companies - SK Engineering & Construction Co, Ltd, is building a highway in Almaty (BAKAD). In the finance areas Shinhan Bank also works here. Many Korean snacks, which you can find in supermarkets, are manufactured by Lotte company. I know that many people in Kazakhstan enjoy Korean food and love to use Korean cosmetics. And more Korean companies are interested in Kazakhstan’s market and I am very happy to see this activity.

Has the coronavirus pandemic affected the trading volume between Kazakhstan and Korea?

Any countries can evade from the pandemic situation, but in comparison with other countries, definitely, trade volumes of Kazakhstan and Korea still remain robust.

According to the statistics reported by the Kazakhstani government, the bilateral trade volume was $6.5 billion in 2019. It decreased to $5.9 billion in 2020, about 10 percent decrease from 2019.

Trade volume between two countries decreased only to 10 percent. It demonstrates how much two countries cooperation has been made smoothly. As I have mentioned before, Kazakhstan is the largest trade and investment partner of South Korea. And Korea is the number four trade partner to Kazakhstan. Overcoming the coronavirus, the relationships of two countries should be shown much more progress. We are doing the best to keep up human to human exchanges. Many people should come and go. Contactless meetings are still effective but I want to see business meetings and more consultations. We need more progress and we would like to be more ambitious.

How many Kazakhstan citizens visit Korea in general? And has the number of visas that issued to Kazakhstan citizens decreased due to the pandemic?

More than 50,000 Kazakhstan citizens visited to Korea in 2019. Due to the coronavirus situation it decreased to 10,000. Fighting the pandemic was a top priority of two countries. I have to remind you that Korean government did not shut down air road between Kazakhstan and Korea at all. Because we used to believe that people to people exchanges are very basic foundation for countries’ relationship. All of the countries in the world have been starting to live a normal life and hopefully Korea and Kazakhstan can resume the number of flights. And I hope more people from Kazakhstan will come to Korea.

Could You comment on the development of tourism sphere, particularly about medical tourism between two countries.

Before coming here (Kazakhstan) I found one amazing fact that Kazakhstan is one of the largest countries sending travelers for the medical purpose to South Korea. Korea is boosting world class medical skill. I asked Korean hospitals what the main purpose is that Kazakhstan people come to Korea. Many of Kazakh citizens said that their main purpose is to have a medical check-up and also some surgeries. Thanks to the close relations of the countries, direct flight that lasts 7 hours, Kazakhstan people can easily travel to Korea for medical purposes. I would like to see more Korean medical treatment in Kazakhstan by constructing or operating the hospitals, also to make Kazakhstan patients have much easier access to Korean skilled medical equipment. And also we can talk about the medical academic exchanges on which Kazakh medical staffs could be trained by Korean medical centers.

And what about the current situation with coronavirus cases in South Korea?

How Korea is helping the world in the fight against coronavirus?

Korea was one of the early countries which had suffered from the pandemic, because we are very close to China. But Korea was successful in effectively fighting against the COVID-19. The Korean Government was boosted to handle good management of the pandemic situation. First of all, our Government decided to share our experience with other countries. Secondly, we sent humanitarian aid to the countries in need. I was happy to provide some humanitarian aid to Kazakhstan. It was estimated at $800,000. We carried PCR-test kits, mask, medical kits and etc. One thing that was impressive that we had good cooperation with the Ministry of Healthcare of Kazakhstan while we carried out our humanitarian aid. But we also had one more friend – the World Health Organization (WHO). Korean, Kazakhstan’s Governments, WHO were parts of the trilateral cooperation. Taking this opportunity, I thank again Kazakhstan’s Government and WHO. We are still planning more humanitarian aid to other countries like, for example, to India where is a very serious situation with coronavirus now.

I would like to ask - have South Korean scientists developed vaccine against the coronavirus infection? Mr Ambassador, have You already got your COVID-19 vaccine?

I would like to express my appreciation to Kazakhstan’s Government. Thanks to the measures taken by Kazakhstan’s Government I have been fully vaccinated. And not only me, but my colleagues here, most of the local staff has already been vaccinated. Not only the members of our Embassy, but also many of the Korean community here appreciates the offer. Personally, I was the first who got the vaccine. My purpose was to demonstrate how safe this vaccine is. I understand that some people in Kazakhstan are concerned over the safety of the vaccine.

As an Ambassador who got fully vaccinated, I want to stress that the vaccine will be making the society much safer.

More than 50 million people live in South Korea. In our country all vaccines are foreign made. But Korean Government is supporting the development of our homemade vaccine. According to the latest information, five Korean companies have been conducting medical tests to demonstrate the effectiveness and safety of vaccines. They are targeting to provide the fully authorized vaccine.

How do you comment on the vaccination campaign that is going on in Kazakhstan?

I am very impressed to see that Kazakhstani government is providing vaccines. Kazakhstan developed its homemade vaccine named QazVac. President Tokayev stressed that vaccine supply does matter and asked the people to be vaccinated as soon as possible. I totally support his idea on the vaccination campaign. I hope that by the end of this year Kazakhstani people will fully come back to normal life. So I am fully confident that Kazakhstan’s Government and people will overcome this situation very soon.

How South Korea assesses the political reform that is going in our country and what makes Kazakhstan attractive to South Korea?

2019 was a very memorable year for two countries. South Korean President Moon Jae-in visited Kazakhstan in 2019 and both sides had very productive meetings with the First President, Nursultan Nazarbayev, where they agreed to establish new economic cooperation.

We hope that this year could serve a good opportunity to make further development in our relationship.

Let me mention about my assessment on Kazakhstan’s political situation. As an Ambassador I found that the reforms made by President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev are impressive. I really want to appreciate the Government of Kazakhstan making the political reforms in a transparent and democratic way. Reforms are always mean radical changes. I think that Kazakhstan is totally on the right way.

President Tokayev is stressing his visional reform. While Kazakhstan is taking the great journey to the reforms, Korea will try to support Kazakhstan. There are great possibilities whenever I am watching a young generation. Kazakhstan’s young generation is very well educated and smart. I strongly believe that Kazakhstan is a land of opportunity. Political leaders are determined that resolution of the reforms will make Kazakhstan’s future much brighter. I have only spent one year and fully enjoyed the friendship between people. I want to say a big thank you to Kazakhstani people for their hospitality.

Your Excellency, thank you very much for the interview!