Singapore-Korea ties mark 40th year

By Rachel Lee

The Singapore Embassy’s exhibition to celebrate 40 years of diplomatic relations with Korea has opened at the Seoul Finance Center.

“We: Defining Stories” also commemorates 50 years of Singapore’s independence. Envoys — including Malaysian Ambassador Dato Rohana Ramli and Korea’s Deputy Minister for Multilateral and Global Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Shin Dong-ik — attended the opening ceremony on July 23.

“We have come a long way in these last 50 years and weathered many ups and downs,” Singaporean Ambassador to Korea Yip Wei Kiat said at the opening ceremony. “These exhibits are an attempt to capture succinctly the major milestones in this journey and the characteristics that we have developed along the way that define us as Singaporeans.”

The exhibition features photographs from the National Archives of Singapore and Korea, Singapore Press Holdings, the National Museum of Singapore, Singapore Philatelic Museum and the Singapore National Heritage Board.

“We selected photographs of exchanges between not just the governments, but also people in the two countries,” the ambassador said. “We established our relations in 1975, but our photographs go all the way back to 1967 when there were exchanges in sporting events.”

Since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1975, the two nations have enjoyed frequent high-level visits by leaders, including Singapore’s founding Prime Minister, Lee Kuan Yew, who first visited Korea in 1979.

Economic relations also have flourished since the Korea-Singapore Free Trade Agreement in 2006. Singapore was Korea’s fifth-largest trading partner and Korea was Singapore’s eight-largest in 2014.

In terms of tourism, in 2014, 536,544 Koreans travelled to Singapore, while 201,105 Singaporeans visited Korea, according to the embassy.

“Beginning from similar starting points as poor developing economies, Singapore and Korea have struggled hard to reach where we are today,” the ambassador said. “Through cooperation and the sharing of experiences between the governments, businesses and peoples of the two countries, we have achieved more together than we could have done so on our own.”

Singapore became a fully independent and sovereign nation in 1965 after gaining self-governance from Britain. The country has since grown to become a global hub that has attracted multinational corporations and educational institutions. It also has hosted big sporting events including the inaugural Summer Youth Olympic Games in 2010 and the Formula 1 Grand Prix since 2008.

Visitors to “We: Defining Stories,” which runs through August 2, can pen their best wishes to Singapore on its 50th birthday on a “Wish Tree” and could win a flight to Singapore, according to the embassy. Admission is free.