Wine, 'highway to friendship' between Croatia and Korea

Ambassador Damir Kusen, right, and Plenipotentiary Minister Igor Prelovsek of the Croatian Embassy in Korea pose with glasses of Croatian wine during the Wine Day event hosted by the embassy in Seoul, April 3. / Korea Times photos by Yi Whan-woo

Premium Croatian wines helpful in drawing Korean tourists

By Yi Whan-woo

A glass of wine, as Croatian Ambassador to Korea Damir Kusen put it, is “a highway to friendship.”

And this partly explains why he hosted Wine Day last week, to bolster the bilateral friendship with Korea after the Croatian Embassy in Seoul opened in October 2018.

The event at Insadong Geujip, a traditional Korean restaurant in Insa-dong, central Seoul, April 3, showcased 12 premium Croatian wines before the Korean and international guests. They included Park Joo-sun, a Bareunmirae Party lawmaker who also serves as the president at the National Assembly's Korea-Croatia Friendship Association, diplomats _ both active and retired _ and journalists.

Among the featured wines were Grasevina (welschriesling), Chardonnay, Kaptol Grasevina, Syrah, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon, Kaptol Red, Cabernet Sauvignon.

“In Croatia, we used to say a glass of wine is a highway to friendship. And I'm happy to say this [Wine Day] is the best possible way to build a bridge and to bring our two beautiful countries closer together,” Ambassador Kusen said.

Calling the wine industry “something that more and more Croatia and Korea have in common,” the envoy expressed hope the event, which took a couple of hours, will help inspiring ideas to bolster friendship “in the years to come.”

He noted he hosted the event at Insadong Geujip “to make a connection between Croatian wine and a traditional Korean restaurant.”

According to the embassy, it brought three ministerial delegations from Croatia to the restaurant.

Bottles of Grasevina (welschriesling) wines, left, are on a display at the Wine Day event.

Bottles of Syrah wines, right, are on a display at the Wine Day event.

Ambassador Kusen said Croatian wine goes “perfectly well with tourism” and that this trend is important considering a growing number of Korean tourists.

The number reached 500,000 last year. The figure, according to the embassy, is “critical” considering Croatia has a population of 4.3 million.

“The wine industry is a critical part of the tourist service,” the envoy said, noting tourism accounts for 18 percent of Croatia's gross domestic product.

“We have a prime quality wines. And of course, we'd love to export more Croatian wine to Korea,” he added.

Ambassador Kusen is Croatia's first residing ambassador to Korea. He presented his letter of credentials to President Moon Jae-in in December 2018.

The two countries established a diplomatic treaty in 1992.

Korea opened its embassy in the Croatian capital of Zagreb in 2005. The Croatian Embassy in Japan had doubled as a diplomatic mission in Seoul until the country opened its embassy here last year.

Korea's flagship carrier Korean Air has been running a direct flight between Seoul and Zagreb since September 2018.