By Philip Iglauer

South Africa celebrated freedom, commemorating the first post-Apartheid elections held on April 27, 1994, in a reception at South African Ambassador Hilton Anthony Dennis at his official residence in Seongbuk-dong, Seoul, Friday.

Those elections were the first nationwide in South Africa in which the franchise did not depend on race.
In those election Nelson Mandela was elected South Africa’s first black president and in the nation’s first truly democratic election in voting over a period of three days.

A life-long anti-Apartheid activist, Mandela was arrested in 1962 and served 27 years in prison, being released in 1990 to negotiate the end of the Apartheid regime for the next four years.

Mandela's leadership through the negotiations, as well as his relationship with President F.W. de Klerk, was recognized when they were jointly awarded the Nobel peace Prize in 1993.

Mandela was president from 1994-1999.

Korea and South Africa established diplomatic relations in 1992.

Bilateral trade stands at about $1.7 billion annually with the balance of trade roughly split evening between the two nations.

The two nations have had many high level visits. South African President Jacob Zuma visited Korea in November 2010 and President Lee Myung-bak visited South Africa in July 2011.