Kiwi ambassador on moving on

The outgoing New Zealand Ambassador Jane Coombs, right, and her husband Tim Strong, a jazz singer, had a farewell interview with the JoongAng Daily last Friday at their residence in Yongsan, Seoul. By Lee Chan-weon

New Zealand Ambassador Jane Coombs and her husband Tim Strong have been regarded as something of a celebrity couple in the Korean diplomatic community. As just one of a few female ambassadors in Korea, Coombs and her famous jazz artist husband drew attention from the beginning. Coupled with a reputation for their sparkling personalities and the special rapport that they developed with the Korean people, they have proven themselves immensely popular here.

Since her appointment in 2006, Coombs has hosted a mixture of diplomatic and cultural activities promoting New Zealand in Korea and advancing the relationship between the two countries, while Strong has been likened to another New Zealand ambassador to Korea, according to Coombs, through his own activities, which range from performances with Korean musicians to even starring in a Korean movie.

After a “meaningful” three years here, as Coombs puts it, the couple will return home, bound for Washington, D.C. next March. Coombs, who confessed that she would remain a New Zealand ambassador to Korea forever, said the most memorable thing during her stay in Korea was none other than Korean people.

“We really enjoyed spending time here getting to know Koreans - an impressive and dynamic group of people who are very friendly, energetic and just a lot of fun to be with,” Coombs said in a farewell interview with the JoongAng Daily at her residence last Friday.

In fact, that night, the couple kept open house and held a farewell party where more than a hundred guests, including many Koreans and foreign diplomats in Seoul, gathered to make their farewells to the couple. Naturally, the highlight of the all-night party was the performance by Tim Strong’s Jazz Quartet.

As hinted by the New Zealand Wine and Jazz Night event that the ambassador-singer couple jointly devised in May, both emphasized the importance of culture.

“I do believe that culture and diplomacy go hand-in-hand. A large part of my job is to help bring countries closer together. The more we know each other, the better we are able to work together and one of the ways we get to know each other is through ‘culture,’” the ambassador said.

“The combination of jazz and wine is pretty unbeatable, just like diplomacy and art,” Strong agreed.

New Zealand has considerably grown its cultural presence here in Korea over recent years. The latest example was the signing of a film co-production treaty between the two countries in September. A number of Korean films and dramas have already been shot in New Zealand, including “Bungee Jumping of Their Own,” “Oldboy,” “Silmido” and “Snow Queen” while “Soulmate,” the first Korea-New Zealand joint film production starring Korean actress Han Chae-young, will begin shooting in New Zealand next January.

Now the island country in the southwestern Pacific is gearing up for a large-scale event to make its presence felt more in Korea. As part of the New Zealand government’s Cultural Diplomacy International Programme, the first and largest New Zealand Festival is scheduled for next April at COEX in southern Seoul. The preview event Celebrating New Zealand, was held two weeks ago at the Grand Hyatt in Seoul, providing a hint of what will come next year, through New Zealand food, wine and music.

“We will bring out some of our best artistic talents”

According to Coombs, an expo-like concept of New Zealand will be set up so that visitors can feel like they just stepped into New Zealand.

“‘Experience New Zealand’ is what we’re trying to offer to our Korean friends.”

Meanwhile, Korea and New Zealand have been making inroads to become closer in the area of trade. The final rounds of preparatory talks for a possible Korea-New Zealand FTA were completed last week in Wellington and Coombs said the prospects are bright.

“New Zealand and Korea are two economies that are highly complementary, probably, the two most complementary economies in the Asia-Pacific region. Through the talks, I think both sides now have a good understanding of how we can go about bringing our economies together. And I hope that we’ll be able to move forward to formal negotiations in the near future,” she said.

“Korea and New Zealand have this long-standing friendship dating back to the Korean War. What I’ve seen during my stay here is that Korea and New Zealand are very like-minded, looking at future economic development through the similar lenses of knowledge economy and growth of ICT,” Coombs said.

“I would like to thank the Korean people for the very warm welcome that Tim and I have enjoyed here,” she said. “I also thank my Korean colleagues and the Korean government for working with me to make sure that Korea-New Zealand relationship grows forward in a positive way. It has been a very meaningful three years for us, and we’ll never forget Korea.”

By Park Sun-young Staff Reporter [spark0320@joongang.co.kr]