KUALA LUMPUR: Newly appointed South Korean Ambassador to Malaysia, Dr Yu Hyun-seok, aims to further develop cooperation with Malaysia in future-oriented sectors such as Information and Communications Technology-based creative economy, green energy and finance industries.
“As South Korea’s Ambassador, I will make efforts to further strengthen our bilateral relations in these new fields. Also, I am committed to win the hearts and minds of Malaysian people through public diplomacy,” he told Bernama in an email interview in conjunction with South Korea’s National Foundation Day or known as Gaecheonjeol, which falls on Oct 3.
He noted that bilateral ties were “in wonderful shape” and this was not only based on solid trade-investment relations but also the popularity of Korean culture in Malaysia. Bilateral cultural and people-to-people exchanges have been blooming in recent years with over 420,000 Korean tourists making their way to Malaysia last year while more than 220,000 Malaysians visited South Korea, he said.
“Malaysians tend to be exposed to Korean culture through K-pop, dramas and films, while Koreans experience Malaysian culture through tourism,” the envoy said.
On bilateral trade the envoy said that volume has almost doubled over the past decade, pointing out that Malaysia was South Korea’s 13th largest trade partner while South Korea was Malaysia’s eighth largest trade partner.
He said that bilateral trade volume stood at US$10.16 billion (RM41.93 billion) in 2004 and US$19.67 billion (RM81.18 billion) in 2013.
However, there was a drop in trade volume in 2015 at US$16.34 billion (RM67.44 billion) compared to 2013 due to the recent plunge on oil prices and global economic slump, he explained.
Currently, South Korea’s major exports to Malaysia are oil and gas, semiconductor, display, steel, petroleum products, while major imports from Malaysia are natural resources such as natural gas and crude oil.
However, he believed that K-Beauty, K-Food, K-Fashion developed from the Korean Wave, were poised to grow further together with the existing exports, apart from the enhanced collaboration between IT industry and small and medium enterprise (SME), which was crucial to further expand the bilateral trade volume.
Yu also recalled that both countries celebrated the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relationship in 2010, and witnessed a deepened friendship through active exchange of high-ranking officials.
“Going forward I believe both countries should enhance the strong partnership to make it last for another 50 years and beyond,” he said.
On the economic side, building on the success of the Look East Policy initiated in 1982, both countries were now working on the second wave of Look East Policy in line with Malaysia’s Economic Transformation Programme and Korea’s Creative Economy initiatives.
On the international front, the ambassador said that the strong partnership between the two countries, was also thriving in regional and multilateral fora, such as Asean+3, East Asia Summit (EAS), Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and the United Nations.
He also acknowledged Malaysia’s role as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) for the 2015-2016 term, which has played a constructive approach in establishing peace and stability in North East Asia region including denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula.--BERNAMA