IT has been my great pleasure and privilege to serve as Korean Ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for the past three years. I want to thank Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Crown Prince Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, and the people of the Kingdom for the incredible warmth, hospitality, and kindness shown to me during my tour of duty. My tour of duty here has been among the most rewarding experiences of my life. In closing my service in the Kingdom, I would like to share some of our mutual achievements and experiences. Above all, a series of meaningful events were successfully held in 2012 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations. Korea was invited to the Janadriyah Festival in Riyadh and the Kingdom to the 2012 Seoul International Book Fair, as guest country, respectively. The result of the two events turned out to be great successes. His Excellency President Lee Myung-bak visited the Kingdom to attend the opening ceremony of the Janadriyah Festival, together with King Abdullah, and the Seoul Book Fair greatly contributed to broadening and deepening the Korean people's horizon of understanding on not only the Kingdom, but also the Arab and Islamic culture. During my tenure, I have also exerted every effort to make our bilateral cooperation expanded in various areas. Korea and the Kingdom are now exploring innovative ways for more enhanced relationship in the field of defense, healthcare, energy and science, culture and tourism, education and knowledge sharing, etc. Firstly, it was meaningful for Korean Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin to visit Riyadh last February and sign a defense cooperation agreement with Crown Prince and defense Minister Salman Bin Abdul Aziz. Secondly, the two governments signed the Executive Program for the cooperation on health and medical service last year. The Saudi delegation, led by Dr. Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz Al-Rabeah, Minister of Health, visited Seoul in April, this year. Thirdly, the Agreement for Cooperation in the Peaceful Use of Nuclear Energy, concluded between our two countries in November, 2011, formed a stronghold to promote and encourage joint research in the field of nuclear and renewable energy. Fourthly, Prince Sultan Bin Salman, president of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities(SCTA), visited Korea last month and signed the Executive Program to boost cooperation in the fields of tourism and handicrafts, which would contribute to encouraging women's employment. Lastly, in the field of education, more than 500 Saudi students are studying at the Korean universities under the King Abdullah Scholarship Program. It is also noteworthy that the Korean Government has successfully implemented the KSP(Knowledge Sharing Program) with the Kingdom since 2010, in order to transfer the knowledge and experience of Korea's development and transform the Kingdom's economy into knowledge-based. In line with these efforts, the Korean embassy published the book “From Despair to Hope” in Arabic, which introduces the overview on policies and strategies in the early stages of economic development of the Republic of Korea. For making these active mutual exchanges more convenient, I like to give a credit to the operation of a direct flight of Korean Air between Seoul and Riyadh (and Jeddah), resumed in November, 2012. These events and exchanges have served to strengthen the friendship and enhance the mutual understanding for further cooperation between the two countries, which contributed to lay the foundations for a win-win partner for the upcoming 50 years, as we did in last 50 years. While I feel a tremendous sadness to leave this great country and its people, I am glad that I return to Korea at a time when our enduring relationship is poised to find new era of cooperation. I am sure that young generations of the two countries will work together hand in hand, in the international level for global peace and prosperity as well as in bilateral level for co-prosperity in the very near future. I will cherish the fond memories of working in the Kingdom. Once again, I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to the leadership, government and people of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and wish them the best of luck in all their noble endeavors for the Kingdom and the region.
