Korea-Laos Visa Waiver Program Taking Off
By Kim Se-jeong
Staff Reporter
Some Koreans might already have enjoyed the benefits of the new visa waiver program traveling to Laos.
Starting this year, Korean travelers were exempted from requiring a visa to enter the Southeast Asian country.
It was brainstormed by Ambassador Soukthavone Keola, who had brought up the idea two years ago while he was still in Japan where he was serving as ambassador.
"I thought it's very important to attract more Koreans to Laos," he said, while giving a lecture at the Korea Foundation Cultural Center in Seoul.
It was part of the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Center of Education for International Understanding (APCEIU) photo exhibition that opened two weeks ago.
As an auxiliary activity, the APCEIU invited Keola and other diplomats from ASEAN countries to speak about their home nations.
It took him almost two years to get the visa waiver program running.
His overall message during the talk was pretty clear: Making an appeal to perspective Korean visitors.
He knew that the number of Korean visitors to neighboring countries such as Thailand and Vietnam outnumbers that of those visiting Laos.
According to Keola, the number of Korean tourists to Thailand and Vietnam surpasses 2 million each, while the number of those travelling to Laos remains at around 20,000 per year.
Laos is a landlocked Southeast Asian state, and boasts the Mekong River as a central feature. Ending decades of French influence, the country gained independence in 1949.
Tourism is a main revenue engine. Nearly 2 million visitors pass through the country each year.
"The New York Times has chosen Luang Prabang in Laos as the No. 1 tourist destination for three consecutive years," he said.
Luang Prabang is a city located in northern Laos, and the capital until 1975. The city is now enlisted as the UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The NYT said the town of Luang Prabang "is emerging as (one of) the next potential hot spots for globe-trotting tourists."
The ambassador was candid about the country's chronic economic struggle, and asked Korea for help.
Laos' GDP per capita, according to the CIA World Factbook, was $2,100, the smallest among the 10 ASEAN member states.
About 11 percent of nearly 6 million people live below the international poverty line of $1.25 per day.
Korea, the seventh-largest foreign investor in Laos, he said, is where Laos looks to as a model, which has the power to assist his country.
He asked specifically for more scholarships that would fully cover students' tuition and living expenses.
"Many Laotian students want to come to study in Korea," he said. Although scholarships are available, they are only partially covered.
Forty-five students are on scholarships provided by the Korean government or corporations.
Keola drew a comparison with Korea about how people now attain higher levels of education. Like in Korea, a bachelor's degree no longer guarantees a job in Laos.
"In my generation, the number of students with doctorate degrees was less than 10," but now even master's degrees are no longer rare.
He himself has got a master's degree, having studied international relations in Moscow, Russia.
Besides his mother tongue French, he can speak Russian as a second language, as well as Spanish and English.
Keola served as an ambassador in Mongolia, Cuba, Russia, China and Japan before coming to Korea.
The ambassador has four sons, the youngest of whom was named after the city Ulan Bator, the capital of Mongolia.
"He was born while we were serving in Mongolia. And that's why my son's name has Ulan."
A professor from Keimyung University in Daegu took that as reflection of his open and progressive mind.
The son is now living in Korea and studying at the Korea Development Institute in Seoul.
During the lecture, Keola introduced the audience to intriguing aspects of custom in his home country.
He explained that in Laos, a bridegroom has to send money to the family of the bride before the wedding day as an expression of gratitude.
And the amount of money to be sent has to include the number nine.
"The number nine is a lucky number, and the bridegroom would pay, for example, $90 or $900," he said.
Listeners seemed to be pleased with the diverse information, given with a sprinkle of the ambassador's personal accounts. Yet, Kim Da-won, a geography educator, believed the visual supplements would have maximized the impact of the lecture.
An APCEIU staff member, who is set to visit Laos in November, said it was an informative session prior to his trip.
Meanwhile, the organization, together with the Laotian government, is to organize a photography camp for Laotian children for 10 days in November.
Two professional photographers from Korea will fly to the country and instruct the children alongside a Lao photographer.
And the photos taken by the students will be exhibited at the end of the session.
The APCEIU has invited the ambassador of Indonesia this week.