KOREA BULLETIN 1

KOREA BULLETINThe official publication of the Embassy of the Republic of Korea April 2014

CONTENTS

PHL acquires FA-50 fighter jets from

Korea, signs contract

EPS agreement between Korea and

PHL renewed

F R O M T H E A M B A S S A D O R ’ S D E S KLEE Hyuk, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary

KOICA commits $10-million for Iloilo

port development

Korea Rural Commu-nity Corp. inaugurates representative office

Korea, PHL commemo-rate Battle of Yuldong

It is with sadness that as we enter the second quarter of this year, we witnessed the sinking of the Korean ferry Sewol that left 300 dead or missing, many of them schoolchildren. People from all over the world offered prayers and condolences, for which we are most grateful.

If not for this tragic incident, things have been going smoothly both in the Republic of Korea and in the Philippines.

Support for the survivors of super typhoon Yolanda continued. In January, a fund-raising concert featuring the soprano Sumi Jo was made possible with the combined efforts of the Cultural Arts Events Organizer, the Korean Cultural Center, and their business and media partners. In the same period, the Givers Funds Inc., a member of the Food For The Hungry International Federation, donated school supplies to about sixty schools in Leyte, with children in kindergarten, elementary, and high school as primary beneficiaries.

Yolanda showcased a lack of awareness of the impact of man’s actions on nature, so the Samsung Korean Studies Program fea-tured in February a special lecture on the environment, with em-phasis on how the Republic of Korea – rising from the ashes of two major wars – managed to transform itself from a poor and devastated country reliant on foreign aid, to a first-world state that offers development assistance to less developed nations. This “Korean Model” is widely perceived to be the solution to the problems that are besetting many parts of the world.

On the cultural front, the Korean Cultural Center’s Korean Character Product Exhibition is now on its third month. From hand-held flip books, K-animation has made great progress since 2011. This is the year when Pororo the Little Penguin was pro-duced, which allowed the genre to join mainstream animation while stimulating viewer interest in this purely Korean art form.

Three major events happened in March. A forum was conduct-ed under the aegis of the ADB, which was “designed to develop a more concrete business relationship between project owners and Korean contractors.” This forum will ultimately enhance the relationship between the Philippines and Korea through mutual cooperation.

It is a relationship that further manifested itself with the open-

ing of the Representative Office in the Philippines of Korea Rural Community Corporation. This is consistent with the ideals that our two countries are pursuing in terms of cooperation in the field of agriculture. Since its establishment in December 2008, KRC has been help-ing communities in the Philippines gain economic inde-pendence and self-sufficiency by sharing its experiences and expertise on rural development, on-farm facilities, and Saemaul Undong.

And before the end of March, the purchase of twelve FA-50 aircrafts by the Philippine government from the Korean Aerospace Industries was finalized with the sign-ing of the contract by representatives of both countries. The planes should help boost the capabilities of the Phil-ippine Air Force in defending the Philippine Islands.

In April, the Korean Franchise Show was held at the Makati Shangri-la Hotel. It is a testament to the grow-ing popularity of Korean products, especially food, in the Philippine market. With more and more Filipinos showing appreciation for Korean food and its health and gustatory benefits, the show was also a recognition of the robust economy that the Philippines is currently en-joying.

Thus, the renewal of the Memorandum of Under-standing on the Employment Permit System or EPS be-tween the Republics of Korea and the Philippines was also very timely. After ten years of successful implemen-tation, the EPS continues to be a reliable standard for the hiring of skilled Filipino workers by Korean firms. Because of the good performance of Filipinos and the steady drop in the number of illegal workers, the Repub-lic of Korea has raised this year’s employment quota.

As I said at the outset, it would have been a very fine period, if not for Sewol tragedy. As the investigation of the incident continues and we all move on, we can only hope that the days to come will be rosier under an atmosphere of peace and prosperity.

PHL, Korea sign franchise MOU

K-Animation, arts exchange exhibit

in KCC

* * *

KOREA BULLETIN2

PHL acquires FA-50 fighter jets from Korea, signs contract

The Philippine govern-ment will be acquiring 12 FA-50 fighter jets from the Korea Aerospace Industries in a move to modernize the Armed Forces of the Philip-pines.

The negotiations con-cluded in a contract signing for the P18.9 billion sales agreement between the Ko-rea Aerospace Industries Ltd., CEO HA Sung-yong, Korea Trade Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) President YOUNG Ho-oh

and AFP Chief of Staff Gen-eral Emmanuel Bautista last March 28 at Camp Aguinal-do.

In a statement by the Department of Defense, this marks the first govrnment-to-government contract be-tween Korea and the Philip-pines.

Defense Secretary Vol-taire Gazmin, Ambassador LEE Hyuk and Defense Ac-quisition Program Adminis-trator of Korea LEE Young-geol witnessed the event.

Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin, Defense Acquisition Program Ad-ministrator of Korea LEE Young-geol (center, standing), and Ambas-sador LEE Hyuk witness the signing of the sales agreement for the FA-50 between Korea Aerospace Industries, Ltd. President and CEO HA Sung-yong, KOTRA President YOUNG Ho-oh and PHL Defense Usec. Fernando Manalo.

KOICA commits US$10-million for Iloilo port development

The province of Iloilo will be receiving a US$10-million worth of development assistance from Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) following the visit of KOICA Vice-President DOO Jung-soo last November 2013.

The assistance will mainly be distributed to three main ports in Carles, Estancia and Concepcion following the dev-astation of supertyphoon Yolanda.

Early this year, a five-member team consisting of Resi-dent Representatives SONG Minyeon and SEO Dong-sun, Senior Deputy Resident Representative KIM Young-ran, Con-struction Management Adviser CHO Duk-won and Program Manager Francis Afable inspected the project sites.

The proposal for the assistance program will cover re-construction of the ports landing quays and causeways and berthing and servicing piers. It will also involve concrete revetment, trading halls, refrigeration facilities and plug-in, and improvement of the administration buildings.

The KOICA team will also be extending a US$3-million as-sistance to Visayan State University in Tolosa for its rehabili-tation. The VSU-Tolosa campus was heavily damaged during the typhoon.

A KOICA team visited VSU-Tolosa last January 22, com-posed of HWANG Sunhyung, Deputy Residence Representa-tive of KOICA Philippine Office; Prof. KIM Sang-Tae, Expert on Development and Education of Kyunghee University; Engr. CHO Duk-Won, KOICA Philippine Office Construction Man-ager; and Ms. Eleonor M. Tabing, Senior Program Officer of KOICA Philippine Office.

EPS agreement renewed

Labor and Employment Secretary Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz and Am-bassador LEE Hyuk during the luncheon meeting organized for the renewal of the Memorandum of Agreement between Korea and the Philippines on the Employment Permit System (EPS).

Korea and the Philip-pines renewed the memo-randum of agreement on the Employment Permit System last April 23.

The agreement, which was first signed in 2004 be-tween the Ministry of Em-ployment of Labor of Korea and the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) has been renewed three times since.

In a luncheon meeting hosted by the DOLE for Am-bassador LEE Hyuk, Sec. Bal-doz expressed her gratitude for the EPS which has ben-efited both countries within the span of ten years since its signing.

As of March 31, the ac-

credited Filipino workers in Korea are numbered at 35,936, with three percent of the workers flying back to their Korean employers.

It was also reported that the number of illegal work-ers in Korea is 22.7%, lower than the 30.6% recorded in 2012.

“This is a good sign that our aggressive strategy of addressing the issue of ille-gal staying EPS workers in Korea is bearing fruit.” Sec. Baldoz said.

Joining Ambassador LEE and Sec. Baldoz in the lunch-eon meeting were Technical Education and Skills Devel-opment Authority (TESDA) Director General Joel Vil-

lanueva, DFA Assistant Sec-retary Minda Calaguian-Cruz, POEA Administrator Hans Leo Cacdac, Deputy Administrator Liberty Casco, Director Nimfa de Guzman, and Overseas Workers Wel-fare Administration Director Alberto Valenciano.

The Korean government

adopted the EPS to intro-duce non-professional for-eign workers in its small and medium industries under a transparent and efficient process of selecting, send-ing, and receiving foreign workers through a govern-ment-to-government ar-rangement.

KOREA BULLETIN 3

PEFTOK, Korean Embassy commemorate Battle of Yuldong

Ambassador LEE Hyuk led the wreath laying cere-mony in commemoration of the 63rd anniversary of the Battle of Yuldong last April 24 at the Korean Memorial Pylon in Libingan ng mga Bayani, Fort Bonifacio.

The ceremony was graced by the presence of Lt. Gen. Ernesto Carolina, Administrator of the Philip-pine Veterans Affairs Office; MGen. Romulo Cabantac, AFP and Vice-Commander of the Philippine Army; UM Ick-ho, President of the Philippine Department of the Korean Veterans Asso-ciation; Dr. Paterno Viloria, president of PEFTOK Vet-erans Association, Inc.; and Maj. Maximo Young, PA (ret), President of the 10th BCT

Chapter of PEFTOK. Also present were the de-

scendants of PEFTOK veter-ans, and officers and enlisted personnel from the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

Ambassador LEE stressed that the Korean government will continu-ously support PEFTOK and their descendants through the scholarship programs as a token of gratitude for the Filipinos’ help during the Korean War.

The Battle of Yuldong was fought during April 22 and 23, 1951 between the 10th Battalion Combat Team (BCT) of the Philippine Ex-peditionary Forces to Korea (PEFTOK) and the 44th Divi-sion of the Chinese People’s Army.

PHL, Korea franchise sectors get a boost with MOU signing

Korea Rural Community Corp. inaugurates PHL representative office

Ambassador LEE Hyuk led the inauguration rites of the representative office of Korea Rural Community (KRC) Corporation in Manila last March 19 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel.

The KRC opened in Ma-nila to expand the Philip-pine-Korea ties in the field of agriculture.

Gracing the event were LEE Sang-mu, President and CEO of KRC Community; LEE Gwan-soo, Headmaster of Canaan Farmhand School; Arsenio Balisacan, Director

of the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA); and Claro Maranan, Administrator of the Nation-al Irrigation.

KRC President and CEO LEE Sang-mu was in the Philippines from 1999-2004 as a representative of the Food and Agriculture Organ-ization.

The state-run KRC has actively been working with the developing nations for the modernization of these nations’ farming and agricul-tural infrastracture.

In an effort to diversify and expand the franchise sector, Korea and the Phil-ippines signed a memoran-dum of understanding for the promotion of the sector in both countries last April 14 at the Makati Shangri-la Hotel in Makati.

Signing for the Philip-pines was Elizabeth Pardo-Orbeta, chairman of the Phil-ippine Franchise Association and for Korea, CHO Dong-min, chairman of the Korea Franchise Association.

The MOU signing was part of the activities of the Korean International Fran-chise Roadshow held on April 15, where a number of Korean franchise brands – all of them KFA members – presented their respec-tive franchise packages to prospective Philippine master franchisees. oth PFA and KFA are members of the World Franchise Council (WFC).Press release and photo credits from Philippine Franchising Association (http://www.pfa.org.ph)

KOREA BULLETIN4

Arts & Culture

KCC brings Pororo, Pucca in Manila

The Korean Cultural Cent-er in the Philippines launched its first exhibit for 2014 high-lighting the animation culture of Korea last February 7.

The exhibit, entitled ‘Ko-rean Character Exhibition: The Delight of Korean Anima-tion Character World” features iconic tube characters such as Pororo, Pucca, Tayo, Cani-mal, Cloud Bread and Hello Jadoo. The program were es-pecially designed for children in attendance such as the face painting, board games, diora-ma assemblage, and riding the Tayo bus around the Center.

The exhibit aims to cel-

ebrate the new Korean Wave, the K-Animation. Also, this exhibition was launched to introduce a variety of Korean culture through the Korean characters and its products.

Unlike K-Pop, which relies on the popularity of its ‘idol’ stars, or K-Dramas which require a certain degree of cultural understanding, K-Animation can be directly ap-preciated by the world thanks to its fun and universal stories as well as cute and lovable characters.

The exhibit will run un-til May 10 and is open to the public.

3rd 2014 Philippines - Korea Arts Exchange Exhibit opens May

KOREA

PHILIPPINES

-Coexistence in Asia-May 30th (Fri) - July 26th (Sat), 2014

Opening Reception

May 30th (Fri), 2~3:30pm@ Cultural Room, Korean Cultural Center

@ Wave Hall, Korean Cultural CenterMay 30th (Fri), 4pm

Korean Cultural Center in the Phil ippines, 2F Mancor Corporate Center, 32nd St. , Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City 1634 Phil ippinesw w w. koreanculture.ph Tel. (63-2) 555-1711 Fax. (63-2) 555-1707 E. curator@koreanculture.ph FB. KoreanCulturalCenterPH

Artists’ Talk & Lecture

2014 PHILIPPINE - KOREAN CONTEMPORARY ART EXCHANGE EXHIBITION

한 필 현대미술 교류전

The Korean Cultural Cent-er will be launching its third Philippines - Korea Contem-porary Arts Exchange Exhi-bition on May 30, featuring three artists from Korea and the Philippines.

The exhibit launch is part of the celebration of the 65th anniversary of the diplomatic relations of Korea and the Philippines, as well as the third year anniversary of the Korean Cultural Center in the Philippines.

This exhibition will be fea-turing up and coming styles of Contemporary Art from both Korea and the Philippines, un-der the theme ‘Coexistence in Asia’.

It will highlight the simi-lar concerns of contemporary arts with regard to the art-works, which were created un-der different background, cul-tural landscapes and societies. In addition, it aims to enrich the partnership between Korea and the Philippines through the arts exchange exhibition, as well as to promote a place of communication for contem-porary artists from both coun-tries.

The participating artists from the Philippines are Ger-

aldine Javier, Leslie de Chavez and Manny Montelibano, and from Korea are sculptor KIM Min-kyung and painter JOO Dae-hee.

Prior to the opening cere-mony, artists KIM Min-kyung and JOO Dae-hee, as well as journalist SEO Jung-im will be presenting separate lectures with regard to the current state of art in Korea, as well as some information regarding the Ko-rean Art Residency Program.

The exhibit will run until July 26.

Korea and the Philippines established bilateral relations in March 3, 1949 and the Phil-ippines sent a 7,420-strong troop during the Korean War.This bilateral relations have expanded over time to include in its scope culture and peo-ple-to-people exchanges, with the boom of Hallyu or Korean Wave in the Philippines.

The Korean Cultural Cent-er, on the other hand, was es-tablished in July 19, 2011 to further promote Korea and its different facets to the Filipinos through various programs es-pecially catered for the needs and interests of the residents of its host country, the Philip-pines.