Cultural ties will add new facet to Saudi-South Korean relations

Enhancing Saudi-South Korean cultural ties will add “an important facet” to the “very wide-ranging” bilateral relationship, South Korean Ambassador Jo Byung-Wook told Arab News on Saturday. 

The Korea-Arab Friendship Caravan will be held in the Saudi capital on Oct. 14. More than 20 Korean artists will perform at the cultural event in the Riyadh-based King Fahd Cultural Center (KFCC), said Jo. It is being organized by the Seoul-based Korea-Arab Society (KAS), a nonprofit foundation.

“Designed to promote mutual understanding and communication between Korea and the Arab world, particularly with Saudi Arabia, the Korea-Arab Friendship Caravan will offer Korean cultural programs that combine tradition and modernity to effectively introduce Korean culture and art to the Arab region,” the ambassador said. 

“The caravan will promote cultural cooperation and increase mutual goodwill between Korea and the Kingdom on the one hand, and between Korea and the Arab world on the other.”

South Korea “plans to hold the first-ever Korean history and culture exhibition in Riyadh later this year,” Jo added. 

The exhibition will run for about two months, and will be organized in collaboration with Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage (SCTH), the envoy said. 

“Cultural exchange allows us to have a deeper understanding of each other,” he added, citing the Asian tour of the Roads of Arabia Exhibition, which was organized by the SCTH in South Korea last year.

“The Korean Embassy (in the Kingdom) will also hold a mega National Day celebration with great fanfare by the end of October this year,” Jo said. 

The celebration will feature cultural shows, and will be followed by a jointly organized health care forum later this year, he added.

“There’s a need to focus on strong complementarities and mutual interests that remain largely untapped,” Jo said. 

Extensive cultural exchanges can lay “the groundwork and create networks for the long-term development of ever-deeper levels of understanding, friendship and cooperation,” he added.