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| A Korean nurse, right, smiles with Afghan children at a Korean hospital in Bargram City, Afghanistan, in this undated photo taken by the Korea International Cooperation Agency. |
‘Miracle on the Han River' inspires new Afghan leader
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| Afghan Ambassador Mohammad Saleem Sayeb |
In the Afghan city of Bagram in Parwan Province, buses carrying people all the way from the capital of Kabul arrive to visit the Korean hospital inside the U.S. military base there.
Although there are a few hospitals in Kabul, the bus passengers prefer to endure the 70-kilometer-long travel and related inconveniences to get free quality medical treatment at the hospital.
Because of their strong work ethic, the Koreans who work at the hospital have won the hearts of the Afghan people, Afghan Ambassador to Korea Mohammad Saleem Sayeb said.
"Patients from both neighboring and distant cities come to the Korean hospital to get medical treatment. The hospital is well-known among Afghans for its great services and dedicated medical staff," the envoy said on March 31 at his office in Seoul. "The Korean staff have done an amazing job, and the Afghan people are grateful for their services."
The respect is mutual, according to Cho Young-gyu, who is in charge of the Bagram hospital project of Inje University Paik Hospital in Seoul.
"Staff who returned to Seoul after finishing their Afghan mission miss the country because the positive memories and rewarding experiences they gained while treating Afghan patients and working with their Afghan colleagues," he said.
The Koreans leave Bagram usually after a year, but some come back in order to follow their calling.
Since 2010, Inje University Paik Hospital has been sending doctors, nurses and pharmacists to the hospital in Bagram with assistance from the Korea International Cooperation Agency. Currently, 15 Korean medical staff, including three doctors, are treating patients at the hospital. The Bagram hospital is part of Korea's effort to help reconstruct the war-torn Afghanistan. So far, approximately 200,000 Afghan patients have received free medical services from there.
Cho, who has travelled to and from Bagram several times on business trips, denied the existence of security woes in Afghanistan. "The hospital is inside a U.S. military base, so there are no safety issues," he said.
Cho believes security is relative, depending on how one views the circumstances he or she faces.
"South Koreans live under the constant threat of nuclear-armed North Korea. Some Koreans outside the country are concerned about potential security problems on the peninsula," he said. "I wonder how many of us realize that we live in a dangerous country. I believe South Korea is no different from Afghanistan when it comes to security or safety woes, considering that there are other factors in South Korea, such as traffic accidents, that claim the lives of people."
Sayeb sees Korea as a model for Afghanistan. Just like Afghanistan, he noted that Korea was a war-torn nation just six decades ago.
Korea's political and economic miracle is now inspiring Afghan people to adopt a can-do spirit, Sayeb said.
South Korea faced the daunting tasks of establishing a democracy and rebuilding the economy in the wake of the Korean War. Back then, few had imagined the "Miracle on the Han River" that would follow decades later.
Back then, pessimism about South Korea's future was so widespread that in 1952, at the height of the Korean War, a British newspaper wrote, "Expecting democracy to bloom in Korea is like expecting a rose to bloom in a trash can."
The country, however, has since proven such pessimists wrong. It now has a strong democratic government and one of the largest economies in the world.
Korea's rise from the ashes of the Korean War and transformation into an industrialized state gives hope to new Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.
"During the 2014 presidential campaign, President Ghani mentioned that the Korean model is applicable to Afghanistan and pledged that he would apply the model to the country if he was elected as president," Sayeb said.
The Afghan envoy said the new Afghan leader takes the potential implementation of the Korean model seriously. He added that following Ghani's advice, the former Afghan government implemented the National Solidarity Program (NSP), which was designed to modernize rural areas.
The NSP is the Afghan version of the Saemaul Undong (New Village Movement) in South Korea, which was initiated by the late former President Park Chung-hee in the 1960s. The nationwide campaign, which was designed to modernize poverty-stricken rural areas, is widely credited with laying the foundation for Korea's success.
Sayeb said the NSP program has played a similar role in Afghanistan so far since it was implemented in 2003.
"Thanks to the program, many Afghan people now have access to safe drinking water. Under the program, bridges and roads have been built in the rural areas to improve agricultural productivity," he said.
The envoy said hope is in the air in Afghanistan following the inauguration of the new government.
"President Ghani and Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah are two internationally well-known figures, and both of them have extensive experience in government."
The new Afghan government has prioritized education and economic development in its endeavor to rebuild the nation.
Sayeb hopes that Korea can play an even more active role to help the war-torn nation stand on its own feet in order to create a miracle similar to that Korea created decades after the Korean War.
The envoy also hopes that the Korean government would expand scholarships for young Afghans to obtain higher education in Korea and that more Korean companies would find business opportunities in his country.
