President Ma Ying-jeou met with a delegation of parliamentarians from Korea's Grand National Party on the morning of March 30 at the Presidential Office Building. The president extended a cordial welcome to the lawmakers on behalf of the government and people of the ROC (Taiwan).
The president commented that while the ROC and the Republic of Korea severed diplomatic relations in the 1990s, trade between the two nations continues to flourish. Even with the global economic downturn last year, the volume of trade between the two countries reached US$17.8 billion. Korea, he said, is Taiwan's fifth largest trading partner, while Taiwan is Korea's seventh largest. Taiwan and Korea began granting visa free courtesies to each other's nationals in 2003, which has led to a significant increase in travel between the two countries, he said. Furthermore, bilateral cultural interaction is quite close, the president noted, remarking that many universities in the two countries maintain sister school relationships. A total of 116 schools here have such relationships with 146 of their Korean counterparts, which points to extremely close ties in this regard, he said.
President Ma noted that the lawmakers in this delegation are all Young Turks in the Korean National Assembly and have positions on a number of important committees, including the Foreign Affairs Trade and Unification Committee, Environment and Labor Committee, and Knowledge Economy Committee. The president said he hopes that after they return to Korea they will continue helping to strengthen bilateral ties.
The president explained to the guests that he has vigorously pursued a policy of flexible diplomacy since taking office. Besides solidifying the alliances that Taiwan has with its diplomatic allies, this policy has also helped to enhance ties with countries that do not maintain diplomatic relations with Taiwan. He said that while Korea and Taiwan do not have formal diplomatic ties, bilateral relations are extremely close. The president expressed his hope that substantive relations will continue to grow stronger.
The guests thanked President Ma for taking time out of his busy schedule to meet with them, and said that the results of his flexible diplomacy policy are clear for all to see. They added that Taiwan and Korea have a long history of strong ties, and that economic and cultural interaction are extremely close. They furthermore said that they are pleased to do their utmost to foster the development of substantive bilateral relations.
The delegation of Grand National Party lawmakers included Chung Ok Nim, Cho Moon Hwan, Park Jun Seon, and Kwon Sung Dong. The group was accompanied to the Presidential Office in the morning by Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs David. Y. L. Lin. Also sitting in on the meeting with President Ma was National Security Council Advisor Dr. Philip Y. M. Yang.