By Kim Se-jeong
Staff reporter
Observing the 65th anniversary of the capitulation of Nazi Germany this year, Russia's Victory Day celebration in South Korea had a twist.
As Russian Ambassador to Korea Konstantin V. Vnukov said, Russia acknowledges that for many Koreans, Russia is still a continuance of the former Soviet Union that sided with North Korea, and helped the regime during the war 60 years ago.
Yet, Russia thinks that now is a time to change perception by taking a close scholastic look at the past.
"This matter is to be dealt with by historians of both countries. They have to look at historical documents together and discuss it," Vnukov said during a press conference last week commemorating Victory Day on May 9, showing a willingness to make long-time closed archives accessible.
The very same comment was made by another Russian diplomat, who spoke at a roundtable forum held a few weeks earlier in Seoul attended by South Korean and Russian scholars.
One Korean at the forum questioned access to Russia's national archives, a place believed to contain many historical documents regarding South Korea-Soviet Union relations, complaining that he wasn't able to research relevant documents.
No other time seems more appropriate to embark on historical reevaluation, as the two countries celebrate the 20th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations.
Apart from this, the ambassador said the time is ripe for diversifying and expanding bilateral economic relations.
"Our economic relations have only relied on trade, but we need to grow more complementary, expanding cooperation in technology," he said.
To many people's surprise, economic figures between Russia and South Korea are dismal.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, in 2009, $4.1 billion worth of commodities were exported to Russia, a 57 percent decrease compared to the previous year when exports amounted to nearly $10 billion.
In reverse, imports from Russia stood at around $5.7 billion the same year, a 30 percent decrease from $8.3 billion the previous year.
When it comes to investment, the picture is gloomier without any significant number or companies on each side.
Ambassador Vnukov said recent cooperation in aerospace will be a good start, in which both can build, referring to the first South Korean astronaut Yi So-yeon.
She was trained under the Russian supervision, and flew on a Russian spacecraft.
Yi spent nearly a week in space along with two other Russian astronauts on the International Space Station.
In addition, Korea will launch a second space rocket in June, another product of Korea-Russia cooperation.
Victory Day has been celebrated in Russia and former Soviet satellite states such as the Ukraine and Belarus, recognizing the surrender of Nazi Germany during World War II.
To this end, the embassy presented a week-long film festival.
Starting from last Tuesday onward, six movies related to World War II have been shown.
Today and tomorrow at 7 p.m., "They Fought for Their Motherland" and "The Immortal Garrison" will be shown respectively at the Seoul Center for Culture and Tourism located located in M-Plaza at Myeong-dong, Seoul.
For more information, visit: https://cafe.naver.com/haichihall.