[INTERVIEW] British envoy shares his decades-old bonds with 2 Koreas

British Ambassador to Korea Colin Crooks speaks during an interview with The Korea Times and its sister newspaper Hankook Ilbo at his residence in central Seoul, July 28. Crooks is one of the few diplomats to have been posted in both North and South Korea. Korea Times photo by Seo Jae-hoon

UK ready to partner with Korea amid rise of Indo-Pacific

By Kwon Mee-yoo

British Ambassador Colin Crooks' life is inseparable from Korea. He is a rare diplomat in that he has been posted in both North and South Korea. Crooks first came to Seoul in 1995 as a British diplomat and lived here for four years until 1999. During his time here, he organized Queen Elizabeth II's visit to Andong, South Gyeongsang Province, on her 73rd birthday which drew a media frenzy.

Crooks went to North Korea's capital in 2008, then as charge d'affaires. He returned to the secretive nation as ambassador in 2018 and served there for years until when he was called upon by the British foreign ministry for a fresh start as ambassador in South Korea earlier this year.

His ties with the two Koreas began from birth. Due to the similarities in security circumstances in his homeland ― Northern Ireland ― and the two Koreas, Northern Ireland has popped up in Korean media outlets occasionally when South Korea's relations with the North were trapped in a quagmire for the latter's ceaseless pursuit of its nuclear weapons program. The successful peace process in Ireland, which was symbolized with the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, has been touted by some experts as a possible model for the reconciliation of the two Koreas.

He said his birthplace triggered his curiosity about life on the other side of the border.

"The situation in Northern Ireland is different from the Korean Peninsula. About 25 years ago, we went through the Northern Ireland peace process and found a safer and sustainable solution," he said during an interview with The Korea Times and its sister newspaper Hankook Ilbo, July 28.

"However, growing up in Northern Ireland, I was always curious of Southern Ireland and fascinated by the Korean Peninsula in a psychologically similar way. So when I was in South Korea, I wondered what North Korea was like and wanted to visit there."

As a veteran diplomat and Korea observer for decades, he watched in person the dramatic shift in the significance of South Korea as a foreign posting.

Over 25 years ago when Crooks was first posted in Seoul, South Korea was a country where U.K. diplomats received a hardship allowance during their posting.

"Now, more British diplomats want to come to Korea. Of course South Korea has seen a brilliant economic development, but Koreans also gained much confidence from their culture, especially hallyu," he said.

British Ambassador Colin Crooks visits Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang during his time as the U.K's top envoy in North Korea in this photo uploaded May 27, 2021, a year after the British Embassy there closed. / Captured from Twitter

Time in North Korea

Crooks noted that the U.K.'s relationship with North Korea is much different from its relationship with the South.

"The U.K. has diplomatic relations with DPRK and diplomats are respected by North Korea, but the tie's not as close as with ROK," he said, referring to the North and South by acronyms of their official names.

The differences in political systems also resulted in differences in how diplomatic issues are dealt with. As the top British envoy to Seoul, Crooks has ample opportunities to meet with South Korea's political and economic heavyweights, but the chances were scarcer in Pyongyang.

In fact, Crooks had only met North Korean leader Kim Jong-un once during his time in Pyongyang.

"About three years ago, the Victory Day celebration on July 27, 2019, was the last large-scale event I attended. I saw Kim Jong-un sitting on the stage and it was the first and last time I saw Kim Jong-un in person," Crooks said.

Still there were other opportunities to meet with North Korean officials. Pyongyang's foreign ministry organized annual events for diplomats, providing rare opportunities for him to speak directly with high-ranking North Korean officials.

"I met (North Korean Foreign Minister) Ri Yong-ho for five minutes, and on a separate occasion met Ri Son-gwon (Ri Yong-ho's successor) for five minutes," Crooks said.

"With both of them, the discussion was similar. It was basically how do we progress U.K. relations with the DPRK and in each case, I made clear that this would depend on the DPRK addressing our concerns on the nuclear program and human rights."

As a diplomat, Crooks was freely allowed to travel as far as Nampo to the west, Wonsan to the east and Mount Myohyang to the north from the North Korean capital. He took photos of Pyongyang and other parts of North Korea and posted them on Twitter, giving a glimpse into the reclusive country.

"I had a North Korean driver's license and other than those places, I had to ask for a permit in advance, but I was almost always able to obtain permission," he said.

Crooks recalled that he had some opportunities to mingle with ordinary North Korean people, who are not used to interactions with foreigners, during big holidays such as election day.

"Once I walked around the streets behind Pyongyang Station on an election day and there was a group of Pyongyang citizens having fun with a karaoke machine. They asked me to join and I sang 'Arirang.'

"Then an elderly man came up and asked me where I learned Korean and when I told him I learned Korean in Seoul and lived in Yongsan. He knew Yongsan and Itaewon ― where the U.S. military lived. However, his daughter was worried of her father talking to a foreigner and dragged him out of the talk," Crooks said.

Crooks is known as the last Briton to set foot in North Korea. The country closed down its borders soon after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in January 2020 and the U.K had to temporarily shutter its embassy in Pyongyang.

"We held out till May, but we could see grocery store shelves emptied over the months. After the border closure, we saw luxuries such as bananas, lemons and oranges running out of stock and I heard that coffee and oil were sold out after we left Pyongyang."

U.K. Ambassador to Korea Colin Crooks delivers a speech supporting sexual minorities during the Seoul Queer Culture Festival at Seoul Plaza, July 16. Yonhap

The Equality Act

Fluent in the Korean language, Crooks is one of the most welcomed foreign ambassadors here. During the Seoul Queer Culture Festival on July 16, he delivered a speech supporting sexual minorities fully in Korean.

"It is about fundamental values. Though the U.K. and Korea have differences in history, culture and geography, we share the same values of democracy, freedom and the rules of law," he said.

He emphasized the importance of the legal system in protecting human rights as Korea's proposed comprehensive anti-discrimination bill has been stalled for over 15 years citing lack of social consensus.

"In the U.K., we legislated first and then consensus in the British society followed."

The U.K. Equality Act came into effect in 2010, replacing separate legislations on equality with a single act, legally protecting people from discrimination in society. The law bans discrimination against age, disability, gender identity, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.

As an ambassador from a country sharing similar values, Crooks hopes for Korea to guarantee the rights of all people equally.

'Obvious' partners for each other

In 2021, the U.K. announced its Indo-Pacific Tilt, highlighting the importance of the region, especially after Brexit. Ambassador Crooks said the U.K. and Korea can be great partners for each other in this context.

"The Indo-Pacific area is gaining more importance in political, economic and security matters. The U.K. is making bilateral and multilateral efforts to bolster ties with democratic countries in the Indo-Pacific region," he said.

"My ambition is to establish Korea as a 'natural' country for the U.K. to partner with in the Asia-Pacific region and Korea to automatically think of partnering with the U.K. in Europe."

Korea and the U.K. signed a bilateral framework for closer cooperation in June when President Yoon Suk-yeol met with U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

"For instance, both the U.K. and Korea are very interested in energy security issues and the two have similarities in energy mix putting emphasis on both nuclear energy and renewable energy," Ambassador Crooks said. "Korea can offer nuclear energy technology to the U.K. and the U.K can offer renewable energy to Korea, so we can be great partners in this."