Kazakhstan is in great journey to reforms and Korea will support it – Ambassador Koo Hong-seok

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 in their cooperation?

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

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 fighting against COVID-19. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev visited the 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 country 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, the petrochemical industry. The Korean Government wants to remain as one of the importing country of oil and gas from Kazakhstan. The Korean Government and companies are very willing to make a contribution for progress into the 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 Southeast Asia countries and even South and Middle America.

Korea and Kazakhstan have the cooperation in traditional energy sectors. The Government is working on green new 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 large of 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 are any chances for Kazakhstan’s Government and people consider the construction of the nuclear power energy plant, Korea will 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 Kazakhstani people, but safety first. If Kazakhstan in someday decides to set up the plant, I have so say that the 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. Korea is one of the very known in this regard. Recently the Korean Government raised a flag of the digital new deal to make Korea much more flourished in ICT. The Kazakhstan 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 promised in our cooperation.

So these four areas stress our cooperation. I want to name our cooperation 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 they are working on?

According to the stat from 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 Hyundai and Samsung, LG and so on. Not only big, but also small- and medium-size 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 dollars. 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 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 trade 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 USD in 2019. It decreased to 5.9 billion USD 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 in general visit Korea? And has the number of visas that issued to Kazakhstan citizens decreased due to the pandemic?

More than 50 000 Kazakhstan citizens visited 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 the Korean government did not shut down air lines 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 the tourism sphere, particularly medical tourism between two countries.

Before coming here (Kazakhstan) I found one amazing fact that Kazakhstan is one of the largest country 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, a 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 country in effectively fighting against the COVID-19. The Korean Government was boosted to handle good management of the pandemic situation. Our Government decided to share our experience with other countries, at the first. The second, we stand humanitarian aid to the countries in need. I was happy to provide some humanitarian aid to Kazakhstan. It was estimated at 800 000 US dollars. We carried PCR-test kits, mask, medical kits and etc. One thing that was impressive that we had good cooperation with minister 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 to Kazakhstan 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 scientist developed vaccine against the coronavirus infection? Mr Ambassador, have You already got your COVID-19 vaccine?

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

For more than 50 million people live in the South Korea. In our country there are all foreign made vaccines. But Korean Government is supporting the development our homemade vaccine. According to the information, five Korean companies have been conducting medical test 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 in Kazakhstan?

I am very impressed to see that Kazakhstani Government is providing vaccines. Kazakhstan developed its homemade vaccine named Qazvac. Mr. President Tokayev stressed that vaccine supply does matter and ask for the people to be vaccinated as soon as possible. I totally support his idea on the vaccination campaign. I hope that to the late of this year Kazakhstan people fully come back to normal life. So I 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 to Kazakhstan in 2019 and the both sides had very productive meetings with 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 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 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 for one year and fully enjoyed the friendship between the peoples. I want to say a big thank to Kazakhstan people for their hospitality.

Your Excellency Ambassador, thank you very much for the interview!