By Kim Se-jeong
Staff Reporter
The first Westerner on the Korean Peninsula was a Spaniard, one Korean scholar claimed, not Hendrick Hamel, a Dutchman who has been considered as the first Westerner who landed on Jeju Island.
"His name was Gregorio de Cespedes, a member of the Roman Catholic Society of Jesus who was devoted to missionary and educational work in Japan.
"He was summoned to Korea during the Japanese Hideyosi's invasion of Korea (1592-1598)," said Kwak Jae-sung, professor at Kyung Hee University's Graduate School of Pan-Pacific International Studies in Seoul, during the Korea-Spain forum held at Lotte Hotel last week.
Citing documents and evidence found in Japan, Kwak said, the missionary, a son of then mayor of Madrid, left four letters about his months of stay in Korea, giving evidence of a longer relationship between Korea and Spain than what has been known.
"It was 60 years earlier than Hamel," who drifted to the Coast of Jeju Island in 1653 and lived in the Joseon Kingdom (1392-1910) until 1666, Kwak said.
Korea and Spain celebrate the 58th anniversary of diplomatic ties this year. And it was during the past five years when the bilateral relations began to bloom.
During this time, the first direct flight between Incheon and Madrid opened.
Former President Roh Moo-hyun traveled to Spain last year to become the first Korean head of state to visit the European country.
Welcoming Roh's visit, the Spanish government designated 2007 as the year of Korea in Spain.
Spain began to focus more on Korea and Asian affairs in general during the same period, creating CASA Asia, a government-affiliated organization dedicated to enhancing understanding of Asia.
The forum, a collective effort by the Korea Foundation and CASA Asia, was launched in 2004, opening forums for talks on ways and means to help promote understanding and cooperation between scholars, government officials and educators.
The fifth forum this year was significant as Yim Sung-joon, president of the Korea Foundation, and Jesus Sanz, president of CASA Asia, signed a memorandum of understanding, vowing to expand cultural and people-to-people exchanges.
A Spanish cultural center will open in Korea within a few years, Sanz said, expecting to give a better glimpse of the Spanish culture to Koreans, who know about Spain from a few limited images such as the Barcelona Olympics.
On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two countries in 2010, the Spanish prime minister would visit Korea in return of former President Roh's visit, one Spanish participant said.
Jose Eugenio Salarich, director-general of foreign policy for Asia and the Pacific at the Spanish Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, said the extent of communication and exchange isn't up to expectations yet, and the two "allies in birth," have enough potential to grow with many similarities.
"Korea and Spain are very similar. Both are peninsula countries and have undergone similar political turmoil, growing as a young democracy," Salarich said. Also, the two middle power countries have grown from recipients of the Official Development Assistance (ODA) to donors in recent years.
Spanish participants expressed interest in Korea's ODA programs in Asia, a region Spain is shifting its eyes to. "Since Korea knows better about Asian society with knowledge of where foreign aid is needed, we'd like to learn from the Korean experience."
Sixty percent of Korean foreign aid is directed to Asian countries, according to the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy.
Spanish ODA targets mainly Africa and Latin America, where Korean presence is still small.
Next year, the forum will take place in Madrid.