S. Korea in search of closer N.Z. ties

Press, 17 August 1978, Page 16

S. Korea in search of closer N.Z. ties

South Korea this year expects to import more than $6O million worth of goods from New Zealand. Next year the total is expected to pass $lOO million, according to the Counsellor at the Korea Embassy in Wellington, Mr Sung Ku Kang. Mr Kang, who in New Zealand in April, made his first visit to Christchurch this week. Meat and animal products continue to be New Zealand’s most important exports to Korea; wood, wood pulp, and processed fish are also expected to become important items. “From November we will be importing wood pulp worth $2O million a year,” said Mr Kang. “There is also a growing demand for deer horn and antlers. Koreans are amazed that New Zealanders, in the past, have discarded these things. They are very valuable in Korea as ingredients for medicines. We collect things here which have been regarded as rubbish and turn them into treasure.” New Zealand exports to South Korea have grown rapidly in the last six years, from $6 million in 1972 to $42 million last year. In the first five months of this year exports increased by 82 per cent compared with the same period in 1977.

For South Korean exports to New Zealand the figures are not so bright. Last year New Zealand imported $11.5 million worth of goods from South Korea. However, New Zealand imports for the first five months this year show an increase of 40 per cent. The chief imports from South Korea have been fabrics woven from man-made fibres, and socks and gloves. New Zealand also buys small quantities of such items as fishing nets, tobacco leaf, and kitchen ware. “Import restrictions affect the quantity of goods we can sell in New Zealand, and you are a small market compared with South Korea which has 35 million people,” said Mr Kang. “But we are looking now for larger contracts, especially in industrial products. New Zealand has already brought some railway rolling stock from South Korea. Last month we tendered again for a contract to supply rolling stock and we hope to tender whenever opportunities arise to sell industrial products.” South Korea’s diplomatic representatives in New Zealand expect a considerable expansion in relations between the two countries in the next few years, not only in trade, but in contacts of all kinds.

“Our contact with New Zealand began in 1950 when New Zealand servicemen fought in Korea as part of the United Nations forces,” said Mr Kang. “The New Zealand Korean Veterans Association is the oldest organisation here which has links with Korea.” In all, about 5000 New Zealand servicemen took part in the Korean war. New organisations are emerging. A New ZealandKorea Society with a membership of several hundred, has its headquarters in Wellington. A New Zealand-Korea Parliamentary Friendship Association has been formed with about 30 New Zealand M.P.s, drawn from both sides of the House, as members. A similar organisation has been formed in South Korea among members of the South Korean Parliament. “Our two economies complement each other. Trade between New Zealand and Korea is galloping,” the South Korean Ambassador (Mr C. S. Lee) told a recent meeting of the Parliamentary association in Wellington. Perhaps the most important organisation of all will

be the Korea-New Zealand businessmen’s Council which has its inaugural meeting in Wellington today. The council’s president is Mr Eric Miller, deputy managing director of Dalgety (New Zealand), Ltd. The council has 50 members.

Next month a major delegation from the businessmen’s council will visit South Korea and an inaugural meeting will be held in the capital, Seoul. More than 30 New Zealand businessmen, in search of ways to improve two-way

trade, will be in the delegation. Relations between the two countries are expanding so quickly that the Embassy in Wellington recently increased its staff from three to five and further appointments are expected.