INTERVIEW
'SOUTH KOREA IS A
RELEVANT MODEL FOR
RWANDA TO STUDY'
Park Yong-min is the ambassador of South Korea to Rwanda.
He is also supposed to be the nonresident ambassador to Burundi but the current political
turmoil in the country has not made this possible. Yong-min spoke to Gilbert Mwijuke
about the focus of his tenure, mused on South Korea-Rwanda bilateral relations,
and also discussed some of the projects his country is currently funding in Rwanda.
What are South Korea-Rwanda bilateral relations like?
Diplomatic relations between the two
countries have been growing steadily
since Korea established its eambassy
in Rwanda and Rwanda also established its embassy in Korea in 2012.
Today, Rwanda is one of Korea’s
eight priority development partners.
We are currently giving Rwanda $21
million as development aid, which is
the largest amount of money we are
giving to any single country in Africa
and the fourth-largest globally.
Rwanda is very important to Korea
because the two countries have a lot
in common. Like Rwanda, Korea is
46 - CHIEF EXECUTIVE
also a small and mountainous country, we both have a colonial history,
our population density is almost the
same, we have the same experiences of
wars that surprised the world (the Korean War of 1950-1953 and the Rwandan genocide of 1994), and both of us
don’t have much natural resources.
This makes South Korea a very relevant
model for Rwanda to study.
Also, Rwanda has been very accountable and transparent for the past couple of decades so we believe that its
success will set a good example for the
development of the entire East African
region.
What is the focus of your tenure
regarding trade and investment in
Rwanda?
Trade and investment is very important, but first and foremost my job is
to bring the people of the two countries together even though we are
geographically far apart.
Because of the similarities I have
mentioned above, Koreans and Rwandans will very easily resonate with
each other once they get to know
each other. They will sympathise with
each other.
I am also putting emphasis on cultural exchange between the two coun-