SAO PAULO ― President Park Geun-hye wrapped up her four-nation tour of South America over the weekend with a handful of deals aimed to boost trade and economic cooperation.
Park’s trip to Colombia, Peru, Chile and Brazil came as South Korea is pushing to expand economic cooperation with the region hailed by Seoul officials as a continent of opportunities.
South Korea has signed a set of memorandums of understanding with the four countries that, among other things, call for closer cooperation in the fields of telemedicine, renewable energy and e-commerce.
In Colombia, Park asked Bogota to quickly ratify a free trade agreement it had signed with South Korea. In Lima, she and her Peruvian counterpart Ollanta Humala jointly celebrated the rollout of the first basic trainer jet assembled in Peru in cooperation with South Korea’s sole aircraft manufacturer, Korea Aerospace Industries Ltd.
 |
President Park Geun-hye and her Brazilian counterpart Dilma Rousseff walk to a welcoming ceremony at the presidential palace in Brasilia, Brazil, Friday. (Yonhap) |
Park and Humala specifically agreed to cooperate in Peru’s advanced trainer jet project, boosting South Korean hopes to win the project.
In Chile, Park and her Chilean counterpart, Michelle Bachelet, agreed to upgrade the two countries’ bilateral free trade agreement to conform to the changing global trade environment.
In Brazil, she and her Brazilian counterpart, Dilma Rousseff, agreed to strengthen partnership by diversifying economic cooperation.
South Korea and Brazil “can become ideal partners in expanding cooperation in such high-value-added areas as infrastructure, smart grids, renewable energy and health care,” Park said in a news conference with Rousseff following their summit in Brasilia. Smart grid technology is designed to increase power system efficiency.
Rousseff said Brazil and South Korea also agreed to cooperate in renewable energy to cut emissions of heat-trapping gases that scientists blame for global warming.
Rousseff told Park at the summit that her country can cooperate with South Korea in nuclear power generation as it does not affect climate change, according to Park’s office.
South Korea and Brazil signed a set of MOUs calling for cooperation in a broader range of areas, including telemedicine and job training. Park and Rousseff observed the signing of some of the MOUs following their summit.
South Korea said it expects its young skilled professionals to make inroads into Brazil’s manufacturing and information and technology sectors through the exchange of skilled workers.
The move comes four months before Sao Paulo hosts the WorldSkills Competition, the world’s largest professional education event held every two years.
Separately, South Korea said it would set up a “K-move center” in Brazil to help young people get jobs in Central and South American countries. So far, South Korea has been running such centers in seven countries, including the United States and Japan.
Officials boasted of noticeable achievements resulting from the trip.
An Chong-bum, the senior presidential secretary for economic affairs, said those South American countries voiced hope that South Korean companies would participate in infrastructure projects.
The move “considerably raised the possibility that South Korean companies could make inroads into many infrastructure projects,” Ah told reporters.
He also said South Korea secured a foothold in telemedicine in the South American countries as they suffer from a shortage of doctors, mostly in remote areas.
Telemedicine is designed to improve access to quality care for those in medically deprived areas by using information technology, mostly the Internet.
Also Saturday, Park met with hundreds of people in the Korean community in Brazil and gave them a pep talk, an aide said.
Those who attended the meeting with Park included Shin Hye-ja, a 74-year-old woman who visited Seoul in 1975 along with other South Koreans living abroad. At that time, Park, as a stand-in first lady after her mother was assassinated by a North Korean agent, met Shin.
Park also attended a fashion show at a hotel that included performances by K-pop stars in an apparent move to encourage people from the Korean community. K-pop stars who performed included the boy band SHINee and f(X).
About 70 percent of nearly 50,000 Korean immigrants in Brazil work in the fashion industry. The fashion show drew about 700 people, including representatives of Brazilian fan clubs of “hallyu,” or the Korean wave.
South Korean TV shows, films and pop music have gained wide popularity in Brazil and other South American countries in recent years beyond China and Southeast Asian countries.
Park’s office said there are about 200 K-pop fan clubs in Brazil.
According to Seoul government officials, 103 South Koreans arrived in Brazil in 1963 as the first group of Korean immigrants.
From news reports
