Korean Activities in Pakistan in the Last Six Months

photo credits@ vision care

I have tried to give an overview of the various activities in bits and pieces by the Korean government, its community and the interest groups based in Pakistan. It has not been as impressive as it should be but at least, the last six months have seen more activities by the Korea Embassy than ever before. It seems that we are moving in the right direction - slowly but surely!

The New Ambassador
Choong-Joo Choi, was appointed as the ambassador of the Republic of Korea in Pakistan in August 2010. Before coming to Pakistan, he worked as the special advisor to the Governor of Gyeonggi Province on Foreign Relations. Gyeonggi has the largest share of foreign population in Korea. He has also served as an Adjunct Professor at the Division of International Studies (DIS) at Korea University.

Ambassador Choi graduated from the Department of Economics at Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea in 1977. The same year he passed the civil service exam and joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. He also studied at the Johns Hopkins University.

In the past six months, he has been very busy and active in furthering the relations between Korea and Pakistan. He has actively participated in looking for donors from Korea to help Pakistan out with flood relief activities.

Korea’s Donation for the Flood Victims
So far, the Government of Korean and the Korean business community have donated generously around $ 4.5 million in the form of goods and cash as an emergency humanitarian assistance for flood victims in Pakistan. The donation comprised of $ 2.1 million from the Government of Korea, their private sector donated $1.3 million, and Korean companies in Pakistan chipped in $1.1 million.

Free Medical Services by the Korean Doctors (September 19-26, 2010)
Vision Care Service (VCS) is the organization for ophthalmic surgery & medical treatment in Korea. This NGO was founded in 2002 and its aim is to treat people with visual impairment and to restore their sight regardless of their nationality, sex, or religion. This Eye Camp which was sponsored by Samsung Electronics treated around 570 patients and conducted 70 operations. This rather small but efficient team included 11 people (3 doctors, 2 nurses, 5 volunteers, 1 staff). They also donated money for the flood affectees in Pakistan.

Another recent activity was carried in the first week of Feruary, when a team of Korean doctors examined patients suffering from eye, teeth, stomach, skin, joint aches and other diseases and distributed free medicines near Quetta.

National Taekwondo Championships
The Seventh Korean Ambassador National Taekwondo Championships as the name shows were also sponsored by the Korean Embassy which is a modest yet an important effort by the Embassy of Korea who have not been this active before.

Debate Contest at a University
This is one of the venues where Pakistan and Korea need a solid relationship. More and more exchanges between Pakistani and Korean universities is the need of the hour. Pakistan has some of the best brains and Korea has some of the best facilities, universities and reserach centers. Both the countries can benefit from this union. At the moment Pakistan and Korea have signed an MOU for an exchange of students and scholars in the field of science and technology. I hope that the two countries open the door for arts, music, humanities and social sciences as well. Currently, National University of Modern Languages (NUML) is the only educational institution in Pakistan where we have Korean Language classes at a governmental scale. This area of studies should be fully explored in collaboration with other universities in Pakistan with their Korean counterparts. Anyhow, Korea sponsers debate contests at NUML every year- which is a good effort.

I hope that Korea and Pakistan work closer on their bilateral relations in the field of economic, trade, education and human resource development. Both the countries have a lot to learn from each other.


NOTE:Korean Diplomatic Mission can be reached at the address below
Embassy of the Republic of Korea (Pakistan)
Block 13 St. 29 Diplomatic Enclave II, G-5/4
Islamabad, Pakistan
Tel: 92-51-227-9380, Fax: 92-51-227-9391
Email: pakistan@mofat.go.kr