Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of South Korea to Russia Park Ro-byug received diploma of the Honorary Doctor of the Russian Diplomatic Academy. The ceremony was held in the Academy's assembly hall. "It's a great honor for me, since I'm sincerely interested in strengthening cooperation between Russia and the Republic of Korea, especially in the humanitarian sphere. This is especially important for the younger generation. I think that today's event is not dedicated to me, but to our nations," he said in an interview with Vestnik Kavkaza.
Rector of the Diplomatic Academy, Yevgeny Bazhnov, named nine reasons for awarding honorary title to the ambassador:
"First reason, because Park Ro-byug graduated from the Diplomatic Academy, he graduated from the Diplomatic Academy in 1992, he studied brilliantly, and we are proud of him as a former student.
Second reason, after graduating from the Diplomatic Academy in 1993, he wrote dissertation on history, which was dedicated to relations between Russia and Korea in 1884-1903. Today, sometimes people write dissertations using the internet, others' works, but he worked in Russian archives for three years, the so-called tsar's archives, archives of Russia's president, military archives. He used aroung thousand historical sources. This is a great contribution to Russian science, to Korean science, and to science of the world as a whole. This dissertation is studied by everyone who wants to learn about Korea and the Far Eastern problems.
Third reason, after becoming ambassador of his country to the Russian Federation, Park Ro-byug constantly worked together with the Diplomatic Academy in the field of science and education - he gave lectures, participated in seminars, conferences, gave consultations, and he still does it today.
Fourth reason, he promotes our contacts, our cooperation with various organizations of the Republic of Korea. Almost every South Korean delegation that comes to Russia visits the Diplomatic Academy - politicians of any rank, economists, journalists, athletes, generals.
Fifth reason, Park Ro-byug promotes our contacts with Korean colleagues in South Korea itself. Our representatives, professors, students, graduate students regularly travel to South Korea to participate in conferences, lectures. They talk to different people, sign various agreements. And the host country usually pays for all of this.
Sixth reason, he created a school for teaching Korean language in our country. Thanks to him, we have a representative of South Korea, a professional teacher who teaches Korean language. Again, Korean side pays for all of this - his stay here, his salary and so on.
Seventh reason, Park Ro-byug cooperates with us not only in the field of science and education, but also in the humanitarian field. He is a member of our Diplomatic Club. He speaks at the club's meetings every time. It doesn't matter what topic, whether it's chess or international relations. He even made a whole report on football before the UEFA European Championship.
Eighth reason, we love and respect Korea, we work closely with it. In addition to Park Ro-byug, 14 citizens of the Republic of Korea got PhD here. Including Kim Dae-jung, who was a dissident in South Korea, then became an opposition leader, and in 1997 - a president, and also received the Nobel Peace Prize. We were very proud that the basis of theoretical politics was laid here, at the Diplomatic Academy, where his dissertation was written and defended. Another four current South Korean ambassadors to different countries got their PhD here, as well as other citizens of South Korea - journalists, politicians and even one businessman, former president of Kia. So this is an expression of our respect, love and desire to cooperate with South Korea."
Andrei Kulik, Director of the First Asia Department of Russian Foreign Ministry, thanked ambassador for his contribution to the development and strengthening of Russian-Korean relations during his diplomatic career in South Korea's Foreign and especially as Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador to Russia: "Thanks to your efforts cooperation between our countries is becoming more enduring and is filled with new content. Development of relations with the Republic of Korea, our close neighbor, is a priority of Russia's policy in the Far East. This is confirmed by dynamics of our bilateral contacts, including at the highest level. We want to further advance the entire range of bilateral relations, bringing it to a qualitatively new level. We hope our Korean partners will take similar approach to reach our common goal."
Chairman of the State Duma Committee for International Affairs, Leonid Slutsky, said that ambassador is a conductor of ideas and work carried out by heads of states, he's a conductor of culture, serious humanitarian, educational, scientific and cultural projects: "Ambassador is the face of the country, and Park Ro-byug was at the forefront of rapprochement between our countries in implementation of strategic and infrastructurally significant projects. Our cooperation, including in modern history, went through recessions, but today there's a period of recovery, when investment cooperation is growing, when figures of trade and economic cooperation are growing, when cooperation on a number of important dossiers of bilateral and international topics, including North Korean situation, is getting stonger. We can implement several major projects and hold conferences in the framework of cooperation between Russia's State Duma and South Korea's National Assembly. We created the Russian-Korean interparliamentary high-level commission, which, of course, will become a serious platform for cooperation between our countries in the field of parliamentary diplomacy."
Slutsky called Park Ro-byug "perfectionists in a good way", noting that he's "a person who does everything for our cooperation, so that not only deputies, officials and diplomats, but also civil society and youth knew today's Korean realities, cooperated, participated in implementation of large-scale projects."
"Today's event is very important. Ambassador receives honorary doctor's mantle not just as a man that is well known and respected in Russia, who promoted Korean interests and cooperation between Korea and Russia over the past few years. He receives this mantle as a scientist, who does everything in life on a systematic basis. He's a person who wants to know everything, who's always at the forefront," Slutsky concluded.
