“S. Korea needs bigger political role”

Muteb Al-Mutoteh, Kuwait Ambassador to Korea.

“South Korea is asked to exert the political role as big as the economic role it plays in international community,” said Muteb Al-Mutoteh, Kuwait Ambassador to Korea. He made the remarks in a meeting with the AsiaN at his office in downtown Seoul on Mar. 14.

He further said “Korea has become increasingly active in various fields of the international community lately. The fact that large number of international conferences and meetings are being held here, is a case in point. As far as I know, Korea ranks 10th or 11th in the size of GDP among the nations in the world.”

“Furthermore, it is also known to be the 7th largest in the trade volume in the world. In view of these, Korea needs to play bigger political role commensurate to the size of its economy,” he continued.

He also stressed the need to become more cooperative in the relation between Korea and Kuwait, saying that “We have lots of similarities. For example, only a few countries in Asia and Middle East can be said to be democratic in the real sense of meaning. But, Korea and Kuwait are exemplary countries in the regions in terms of practicing democracy.”

In addition to that, he said, “the two countries are also similar in that they are surrounded by bigger and stronger nations. South Korea has been at odd with North Korea while Kuwait is under the threat of Iraq.”

He also mentioned about characteristics peculiar to Korean people. “Even if they live in foreign countries for a long time, they still feel close to their fatherland. No matter where they live, they never fail to make Korean food like kimchi. They seem to have strong affection toward their country. I hope Kuwaiti would also have love for their country as strong as Koreans do,” he said.

“In my view, Koreans tend to be very much afraid of making mistakes while speaking in foreign languages, especially in English. Language is like a muscle, you have to train to make it bigger. There is absolutely no problem in making mistakes while speaking in foreign languages. We all learn from our mistakes,” he pointed out.

Choi Sun-hwa sun@theasian.asia