[In depth interview]Englishman has a global vision for Seoul
Alan Timblick By Jeong Chi-ho
He first came here in 1977 as head of the Seoul branch of Barclays Bank. Timblick has also been the chief executive of Master Card Korea, chairman of the British Chamber of Commerce in Korea and the first non-Korean to hold a senior public post here as chief of Invest Korea, a state-run investment promotion agency.
The 65-year-old Englishman’s ties with Korea began when he met his Korean wife while studying economics at the University of Kansas in the United Sates, after graduating from the University of Oxford. Timblick was awarded honorary citizenship in 2006 by President-elect Lee Myung-bak, then the mayor of Seoul. The JoongAng Daily interviewed Timblick Friday to hear about his vision for the center.
Q. Congratulations on the opening of the center. How do you feel about becoming the first head of the center?
A. I am delighted to be appointed. I think for the last 20 years I have been spending all of my time in some role or another trying to help foreigners in Korea and also helping Koreans understand foreign countries and foreign businesspeople. This is very much in line with what I have been doing.
How did foreign communities here respond to the opening of the center?
Everybody I have met has been very positive about it. Foreigners in every country tend to complain a lot. I think the reaction is that this is a very practical way of dealing with the daily problems and difficulties people have.
Seoul city government has run a help center for foreigners at City Hall for years. What differentiates this global center from the earlier help center?
It’s the same and more. We embraced the Seoul help center, and the core staff who used to work there have joined us at the Seoul Global Center. So, we do the same things. But we also have more practical services. We now have a branch of the immigration office here; we have a driver’s license issuing office; and we have representatives from a credit card company and a telecom company for mobile telephones. We look after migrant worker, as well. Also, we have a business support section. It is much wider range of services than existed before.
You first came to Korea in 1977. I am sure you have observed many changes in the country over the last 30 years.
It’s like a different country. First of all, it is much easier to get around. We used to have a hard time trying to see the countryside. So many of the roads were not paved in those days and progress was very slow and driving was very difficult. Now we have a whole network of expressways and we have high-speed rail, KTX, which is extremely efficient. A very high proportion of the population travels by air, probably much higher than in the U.K. The city of Seoul has changed enormously as well. We still complain about the traffic. But at least it is systematic, regular and predictable now.
What about people’s perceptions of foreigners?
One thing that we want to do at the global center is to help this process of making it easy to integrate foreign populations here with the Korean host population. The obstacle in that matter will be the natural shyness of Koreans who have not come across foreigners enough to deal with them. That has certainly changed over the years. We want to accelerate that process, particularly through cultural exchange programs.
Does the global center have departments for cultural exchanges and migrant workers?
The majority of foreign residents in Korea and in Seoul are migrant workers, probably the biggest single group. We would be very wrong to ignore that group. They tend to be less well-represented than businesspeople. We are offering them support through our migrant workers’ team. I think it is something very necessary and we will continue to make services in the languages of the migrant workers available. That also goes for foreign spouses of Korean citizens who sometimes feel isolated and lonely.
What is your opinion about the Seoul city government’s town meeting?
It’s a very good way of getting feedback. But if you just have a debate and nothing happens, it creates more frustration. The Seoul Global Center is an important response to the issues that were brought up at the town meeting.
One of the perennial issues at the meeting is Korean motorcycles running on the sidewalks.
Of course, it is a police issue. But it’s also a cultural one. Citizens here don’t object to motorcycles riding on the sidewalks and they are used to it. In Korea, things can change very quickly once you reach a critical mass ― people who say it’s wrong and let’s do something differently. Probably, the appropriate thing is to have a popular campaign wherein Seoul citizens say they will not accept this any more.
Education is one of the biggest concerns of foreigners living in Korea. Do you agree?
Absolutely. But it’s not within the competencies of the Seoul Global Center. Nevertheless, I am on an honorary committee, which is a Seoul city government committee, reviewing the opening and selection of new schools. I want to continue to play a part in that and also to help the process of identifying where we can have new schools or what types of schools they should be. The center will inform foreigners where the schools are, what the admission process is, and give them the contact people for admissions offices. We are not a relocation agency but we can liaise with relocation specialists who would talk to newcomers and try to find the right places for housing, schooling and health facilities. It’s not a direct service but we can give them access to that.
You were also the first head of Invest Korea. What was it like to lead Invest Korea? What were the biggest challenges?
My main challenges were probably communicating with the internal organization without being a fluent Korean speaker and persuading people to have a mindset which was really optimistic about promoting Korea as an investment destination. Koreans tend to be a little bit overmodest and sometimes are not good at tooting their own horns. I think overall people have developed presentational skills and developed ways of being confident about the advantages of Korea.
What is your plan for the center?
My plan is to make Seoul a top-10 global city as soon as possible. There are surveys on things like global competitiveness and Mayor Oh Se-hoon is very keen to make Seoul a competitive place where global businesses can work just as easily as they can in any other cities in the world. They are subjective surveys and are based on opinion as much as on verifiable facts. The opinion is influenced by reputation and image. A lot of what we want to do is to improve the image of Seoul which then influences people’s opinions so when they have a survey, we move up the ranks. What we want to achieve is for foreigners who live in Seoul and go back to their own countries to say, “I had a great time, it was a very rewarding experience and I will recommend it to anybody.” That has an accumulative effect on the image. I am employed under a one-year renewable contract with the city and hope that I can work longer to realize the goal.
By Kim Soe-jung Staff Reporter [soejung@joongang.co.kr]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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