Croatia wants embassy in Seoul

Croatia will actively push to open an embassy in South Korea, its prime minister was quoted as saying Thursday.
“We have decided to open our embassy in South Korea,” Croatian Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor told visiting South Korean National Assembly Speaker Park Hee-tae. “We will push for the opening as soon as our economy recovers,” she was quoted as saying by the Speaker’s spokesman.
Park was on a visit to Croatia as part of his official 10-day trip with an earlier stop in Algeria.
South Korea opened its embassy in Croatia in 2005, nearly 13 years after they forged diplomatic ties. But Croatia has yet to establish a permanent mission in Seoul. Its embassy in Japan handles consular affairs for South Korea.
During the meeting, the two leaders also agreed to deepen practical cooperative relationship between their nations on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of diplomatic ties, which falls next year, and hold celebratory cultural, academic and sports events, the spokesman said.
Park also met with Croatian President Ivo Josipovic and the country’s parliamentary speaker Luka Bebic on Thursday.
Josipovic showed his intent to invite South Korea’s President Lee Myung-bak for an official visit to Croatia and urged expansion of bilateral tourism exchanges and Korean investment.
He particularly asked South Korean firms to actively take part in its state projects to modernize the Rijeka Port and build railroads.
Noting that trading volume between the countries is still small, below $150 million, Park expressed hope that it would increase when Croatia joins the European Union and the free trade pact between South Korea and the EU takes effect.
Park is scheduled to return home Sunday. (Yonhap News)