By Yoon Won-sup, Kim Se-jeong
Staff Reporters
The Austrian ambassador to Seoul asked Koreans not to mistake his country for Australia as he has often experienced such mistakes during his stay in South Korea since March 2005.
``There are no kangaroos in Austria,'' Ambassador Wilhelm Donko, 47, told The Korea Times. ``We are so often mistaken for Australia.''
Donko said some people even wear T-shirts reading ``No Kangaroos in Austria'' as a joking way of expressing the need to differentiate between the two countries, whose names differ by only two letters.
The career diplomat shared a number of examples.
One of them, which Donko wants to fix the most, is that many Koreans wrongly think the first lady of Korea was Australian even though Francesca Rhee, the wife of first Korean President Syngman Rhee, was Austrian.
The Austrian Embassy also receives a lot of mail and even people who actually intend to visit the Australian Embassy, which is located in the same building as the Austrian Embassy.
But when the ambassador reveals that he is from Austria, famous for its musical genius Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the interlocutors change their attitude 100 percent and begin to talk about classical music, Donko said.
``It's very easy to sell Austria in South Korea because everybody knows of Mozart and music,'' he said. ``When I am introduced (as ambassador of Austria), Mozart is the very first reaction that I get from Koreans.''
Koreans' great love for Mozart led to an ``exclusive'' exhibition of Mozart in South Korea, which is running from June 21 to Sept. 15 at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in central Seoul, he proudly said.
The Mozart exhibition displays 250 original items associated with Mozart including his piano and hair. Most importantly, the exhibits came to Korea as the very first overseas exhibition.
``This exhibition is a sign of our appreciation that Koreans love music so much,'' he said. In celebration of Mozart's birth 250 years ago, it exclusively and directly came to Seoul from Salzburg where the composer was born.
The ambassador was happy with the ``musical'' image of Austria here as 900 Koreans are studying in his country _ mostly music _ and music and Mozart are what attracts South Korean tourists.
Compared to 2005, the number of Korean tourists in 2006 increased by 40 percent, reaching almost 80,000. He expects the number to be over 100,000 this year.
He also asked Koreans to see other aspects of Austrian culture rather than focusing only on Mozart, stressing that Austria has much more to offer than just the famed composer.
For example, an art exhibition titled ``The Great Habsburg Collection: Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna," featuring paintings from the Austrian national museum of art history opened June 26 and runs through Sept. 30 at the National Museum of Art in Jeong-dong, Seoul.
``They are masterpieces from the Kunsthistorisches Museum. You will be impressed,'' he said. ``Those two exhibitions are world-class exhibitions.''
Asked about Austria's bid to win the 2014 Winter Olympic Games, Donko took a very cautious stance as he knows very well that South Korea's PyeongChang is competing with Austria's Salzburg. He said that his embassy has nothing to say about predicting a winner.
The winner will be announced on July 4 at the International Olympic Committee (IOC) meeting in Guatemala.
Turning to the ongoing negotiation of a free trade agreement (FTA) between the European Union (EU) and South Korea, the ambassador said Austria is in support of it.
With a two-way trade of $1.8 billion already in place, the FTA will bring a ``win-win'' outcome benefiting both partners, he added.
``Korea is the fourth largest trade partner of Austria outside the EU,'' he said. ``Austrian products have a very high reputation and vice versa.''