A large number of Koreans, men and women, are being drawn to a small table in the calligraphy section in the Saudi pavilion at the International Book Fair currently under way in the Korean capital Seoul.
The Kingdom is participating as the guest of honor in the international fair, which was opened on June 20. The pavilion will be open till June 24.
Koreans, curious about Saudi heritage, are especially interested in Arabian calligraphy and have their names written in calligraphic style.
Famous Saudi calligraphist Ibrahim Al-Arrafi, and painter Othman Al-Khozaim are taking turns at the calligraphy desk. Visitors take photographs of various calligraphic samples and want their names written in calligraphy.
An initial difficulty the two Saudi artists faced was to decipher Korean names, which they could not understand when spoken in Korean. Then they asked the visitors to write their names in English.
Al-Khozaim said even if the Koreans could not read Arabic and verify if what they wrote was correct, the Saudi artists took great pains to write the foreign names without any error and in the most attractive style pleasing to the visitors.
He added that they would ask each visitor the style in which the visitor’s name is to be written. The visitors would check the calligraphic samples and would choose a style. Then they would write the name with great care.
Most Korean visitors chose the Al-Diwani style of Arabic writing. It is written in a diminutive size with the help of different colors and generally resembles a logo.
Both the artists have participated in a number of international exhibitions. They agree that Arabian calligraphy could serve as a bridge between other cultures and the Kingdom.
Al-Saif meets Saudi students in Korea
Deputy Higher Education Minister Ahmed Al-Saif on Thursday discussed with Saudi students the difficulties they faced during their stay in South Korea.
The students studying at various Korean universities are on the King Abdullah foreign scholarship program. Al-Saif said employment opportunity for Saudis who studied in Korea, particularly with their knowledge of Korean language and culture, was excellent in view of the high volume of mutual trade between the two countries.
The minister also urged the students to acquire the positive aspects of the Korean culture such as precision, hard work, discipline and punctuality.
The minister ordered the Saudi attaché in Seoul to meet the fees of Saudi students learning English in Korea.
This was in response to the students request to minister that one of the major difficulties they faced in Korea was that they had to learn English apart from the Korean language.
The minister also promised the students to review the fluctuations in exchange rates and do the needful in favor of students. He also directed the attaché to rent a building for a Saudi Students Club following a request from the chairman of the club Abdul Rahman Al-Amoudi.
The minister also promised the students who went abroad on scholarship from the Technical and Vocational Training Corporation to sort out their difficulties.
Remarkable growth in bilateral ties
In another development, Saudi Ambassador to South Korea Ahmed Al-Barrak said in the seminar on Saudi Korean relations over the past 50 years that there has remarkable development in relations between the two countries, especially after the summits between Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah and the South Korean president, the last of which was in 2012.
Al-Barrak pointed out that the Kingdom is currently the fourth largest business partner for Korea. In his paper presented at the seminar Korean Ambassador to the Kingdom Kim Jong Yong said high level visits of top officials paved the way for strong the official diplomatic relations between the two countries.
In 1998 the then crown prince King Abdullah visited Korea. Korean President Lee Myung-bak visited the Kingdom in 2007. Again the president visited the Kingdom during the national Janadriyah festival as the guest of honor this year.
The ambassador added that thousands of Koreans worked in the construction sector in the Kingdom at the end of the 70s of the last century. “Now more than 100 Korean companies work to execute value added projects such as petrochemical factories, desalination plants, power generating companies, information technology and telecommunication,” he said.
He also said Saudi Arabia is the fourth largest trade partner of Korea. The volume of trade exchange jumped from $4.2 billion in 1991 to $43.9 billion with $30 billion trade balance in favor of the Kingdom in 2011. Korean exports to the Kingdom stood at SR7 billion. Saudi Arabia mainly imports cars, ships, iron and steel products and electronic devices from Korea.
Al-Jazirah Editor in Chief Khaled Al-Malik presented a paper on the topic “Saudi Korean relations: half a century passed and what about the next half century.” He said relations between the two countries are all embracing including education, culture and sports. He predicted increase in joint investments, particularly in domestic industries in Kingdom over the next five decades.
