Office of the President Republic of China(Taiwan)

President Ma Ying-jeou met on the morning of March 20 with Mr. Chung Sang-Ki, the new representative of the Korean Mission in Taipei, to welcome him to Taiwan as he assumes his new post. The president also expressed his appreciation to the South Korean government for publicly congratulating him on January 17 on winning another term in office.

President Ma stated that Taiwan and South Korea are geographically close to each other and substantive ties continue to grow in a variety of fields. For instance, bilateral trade last year surpassed the US$30 billion level for the first time. Taiwan is South Korea's sixth largest trading partner, while South Korea is Taiwan's fifth largest trading partner. The president remarked that 90 Taiwanese universities and 161 South Korean universities maintain sister school relationships. Furthermore, two-way travel between the two countries totaled 660,000 visits last year. All of these facts show that interaction between the two sides is quite frequent.

With regard to the upcoming commencement of flights between Taipei's Songshan Airport and Seoul's Gimpo International Airport, the president said that the opening of this route was something he advocated four years ago when he ran for the presidency for the first time. President Ma specially expressed his appreciation to Representative Chung and the South Korean government for their support for this initiative, which is further helping Taiwan to realize its vision of a "golden aviation loop in Northeast Asia" (i.e. direct flights between the inner city airports of Taipei, Tokyo, Seoul, and Shanghai).

President Ma noted that Representative Chung lived in Taiwan from 1982 to 1987 and earned his master's degree here from the Graduate Institute of Mainland China Studies at Chinese Culture University in Taipei. While he served in South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, he was posted in mainland China and other countries. In addition to being an expert on Taiwan, the president also noted that he is an expert on East Asian affairs. Representative Chung has submitted articles to South Korean newspapers entitled "The Underestimated Taiwan-Korean Relationship" and "The Time Has Come to Re-evaluate Taiwan-Korean Relations." The president added that this shows Representative Chung is clearly a strong supporter and friend of Taiwan.

President Ma also expressed his hopes that during his tenure here, Representative Chung will cooperate with the ROC government and continue to work to enhance economic and trade relations as well as cultural ties.

Representative Chung and Deputy Representative Choe Yong Jin went to the Presidential Office in the morning to meet with President Ma. Also attending the meeting were the ROC’s National Security Council Secretary-General Hu Wei-jen (胡為真) and Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Shen Ssu-tsun. (沈斯淳).