RIYADH, 7 February 2004 — A Saudi-Korea Friendship Society has been formed here to encourage greater interaction between the peoples of the two countries, thanks to the efforts of a leading Saudi businessman and a Korean diplomat.
The Saudi prime mover is Dr. Mohammed bin Abd ibn Salih Othman, and the Korean, Counselor Dr. Lee Jong-Cheon from the South Korean Embassy.
Lee told Arab News that he had initiated this organization in his private capacity and not as a government official.
Though a belated effort — the Korean population in the Kingdom has dwindled from around 200,000 in the late ’70s to its present 2,000 — the society believes it can make an impact, especially as it seeks to develop more person-to-person contacts between the two sides.
Lee said that the society plans to encourage exchange visits between ordinary members of the public in the two countries. Some five million Koreans have worked in the Kingdom in the recent past.
“These Koreans would like to visit the Kingdom again, with their sons, to reflect on those years of labor,” Lee said.
The society also plans to bring together common interest groups from both the countries. “Interaction like this would go a long way in boosting relations between the two countries,” he said.
Lee appealed to the Saudi authorities to issue group visas to encourage such exchanges.
He said that the existing Saudi-Korean Parliamentary Friendship Society, a government-to-government body, had welcomed the new society. “I felt that such a people-to-people society was long overdue especially as several other countries already have them,” he said.
I have taken the initiative, along with Dr. Othman, as an ordinary Korean citizen and I am confident of its success,” he said.
