[Friends for decades] Dominican Republic, Korea find countries that move together, grow together

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[Friends for decades] Dominican Republic, Korea find countries that move together, grow together

Federico Alberto Cuello Camilo, ambassador of the Dominican Republic to Korea, speaks with the Korea JoongAng Daily on the 60 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries at the Embassy of the Dominican Republic in Seoul on May 26. [PARK SANG-MOON]

Federico Alberto Cuello Camilo, ambassador of the Dominican Republic to Korea, speaks with the Korea JoongAng Daily on the 60 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries at the Embassy of the Dominican Republic in Seoul on May 26. [PARK SANG-MOON]

 
A shift in geopolitics and the changing political dynamics within their borders is what nudged both the Dominican Republic and Korea to seek official diplomatic relations 60 years ago.
 
A democracy was budding in the Dominican Republic as it held its first free general elections in December 1962 after a decades-long dictatorial rule, around the same time that Korea began to seek new trade partners to expand its export-oriented economy.
 
The two may be facing yet another shift now, with the ongoing war in Ukraine and the effects of the climate change and Covid-19 pandemic threatening to disrupt the daily livelihoods of their people, said the top envoy from the Caribbean nation in Korea.
 
“The key opportunities for both countries arise from the urgency we both have in strengthening economic security,” said Federico Alberto Cuello Camilo, ambassador of the Dominican Republic to Korea. “This is a key priority for the new government [in Korea] and we also see economic security as an element in national resilience.”
 
The two nations have been engaged in recent years in getting the Caribbean nation to join its five neighbors that signed a free trade agreement (FTA) with Korea in 2018. The pact went into effect in March last year.
 
Hugo Rivera, vice minister for economic affairs and international cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Dominican Republic, left, and his Korean counterpart, Jung Dae-jin, a director-general at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy at the Lotte Hotel Seoul on Nov. 1, 2021. [YONHAP]

Hugo Rivera, vice minister for economic affairs and international cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Dominican Republic, left, and his Korean counterpart, Jung Dae-jin, a director-general at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy at the Lotte Hotel Seoul on Nov. 1, 2021. [YONHAP]

The Dominican Republic ranks at the top in terms of GDP among members of the Central American Integration System (SICA), or an alliance of eight countries in Central America and the Caribbean.

 
The FTA, Cuello Camilo added, would also make sense in light of recent discussions between Seoul and Washington on bolstering partnership on economic security in the Asia Pacific region, as Central and South America and the Caribbean have been touted by Washington as adequate destinations for “nearshoring.”
 
To hear more about how the Dominican Republic-Korea relations have evolved over the past six decades and what that history may say about the future of bilateral, and bi-continental, partnership, the Korea JoongAng Daily sat down with Cuello Camilo at the embassy in Seoul on May 26.
 
The following are edited excerpts of the interview.
 
 
What were some of the major factors that led the two nations to seek diplomatic ties in 1962?
I believe the drive to establish diplomatic relations originated here, at the initiative of President Park Chung Hee, who came to power in May 1961. During President Park’s time, Korea embarked on a strategy of export-led industrialization that required new markets. Diplomatic relations were a prerequisite for this.

Coincidentally, 14 days after the ascent of President Park, our own dictator, Rafael Trujillo, was assassinated. The Dominican Republic had been placed under diplomatic and economic isolation by the unanimous decision of all members of the Organization of American States, following the assassination attempt sponsored by Trujillo against Venezuelan President Rómulo Betancourt the year before.

The priority of the Council of State, which managed the transition from dictatorship to democracy in the Dominican Republic, was to break the isolation. The embargo was lifted on Jan. 4, 1962, after the departure of the Trujillo family, and bilateral ties with Korea were signed within a few months, on June 6, 1962, which was yet another move to lift the nation out of isolation.
 
Fast forward to today, how would you tell the story of the Dominican Republic and Korea’s relations over the past 60 years?
There are many milestones in the bilateral ties. For one, Korea has been actively involved in sharing its knowledge on public policies with developing countries, and its very first project was with the Dominican Republic. Last year, we had one [project] on the electronic sector, and as we speak today, the two countries are working on developing regulation for medical devices in the Dominican Republic.

President Leonel Fernández's visit to Korea in 2006 was key in bringing many more initiatives to the bilateral agenda, including on export promotion. Korea has always been very successful in taking advantage of our location, as is evident in the big Korean textile producers in the Dominican Republic. And we received in the country Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon’s visit in 2018.

The people of both of our countries have been interested in each other, especially in the area of sports. We had two Dominican athletes win medals in taekwondo at the Olympics, and we’ve had more than 60 Dominican baseball players in Korea in the past 10 years.
 
Both Korea and the Dominican Republic are interested in the Dominican Republic joining the Korea-Central America FTA. What might be one major change in trade relations brought on by the agreement?
We think that the FTA could prove useful to reconsider the need for lengthy approval procedures of agricultural exports, which can last up to 10 years. Cooperating with Korea, we managed to reduce transit times for imports in customs from two days to two hours. A comparable achievement could be to reduce approvals for Korean imports from 10 years to one month.
 
 
Will the FTA address the energy crisis brought on by the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the ongoing effects of climate change?
The Dominican Republic can be a source for Korea for the critical minerals required for energy transition. We have critical minerals for manufacturing solar panels, wind turbines, fuel cells and semiconductors. Korea has mastered these technologies and has adopted public policies for the transition. Successful management of this process can result in our energy independence from fossil fuels, which will reinforce greatly our resilience to future oil shocks.
 
 
Should the Korean companies present in the Dominican Republic expect to see shifts in trade relations with the heightened U.S. attention in the nearshoring opportunities in the Central and South Americas and the Caribbean?

The Dominican Republic is the base already for nearshoring, that is, the decentralization of production for resilient deliveries to important destination markets such as the U.S.

This has been the case with Korea for a long time in the textiles and apparel sector. It is beginning to be the case for Korea in our top manufacturing export, medical devices, with the arrival of LG [in 2016] when its Household & Health Care bought Johnson & Johnson’s oral care brand in the Dominican Republic.

The potential is there for our second manufactured export, electronics, where Korea is the leader, but which does not yet operate in the Dominican Republic. We are also very keen on receiving Korean investment on a joint-venture basis in the strategic sector of biopharmaceuticals, for which Dominican partners are ready.
 
Countries are reopening their borders to inbound travelers once more. How do you recommend travelers from Korea best enjoy a visit to the Caribbean nation?

The Dominican Republic sees Korea as a source of high-end tourism. Koreans demand the best and the most exclusive products and services. Dominican tourism is ready for them, with pristine, white sand and clear water beaches, the best golf courses in the Caribbean, our architectural heritage as the first European settlement in the Americas and of course the friendliest people. Over 40 percent of the country is covered in forests, of which 25 percent are national protected areas. We have managed to preserve 7,000 endemic species, including the oldest surviving mammal in the world, the solenodon.

The pandemic did hit my country very hard, but the successful vaccination campaign eradicated the minimal inroads […] and 2021 closed with unprecedented arrivals of tourists, which topped 700,000 a month for the first time ever in December. We have some 97 percent of return rate for tourists, and we are happy to see our friends in Korea return for more of the Dominican Republic.
 
[EMBASSY OF THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC IN KOREA]

[EMBASSY OF THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC IN KOREA]

Timeline of Dominican Republic-Korea relations

 
1962 Diplomatic ties established
 
The Dominican Republic and Korea established diplomatic ties on June 6, 1962. The establishment came in the midst of the democratization of the Dominican Republic and export-oriented policies of Korea in the 1960s.
 
1980s Korean textile companies enter market
 
In the early 1980s, the Dominican Republic expanded its free trade zones to increase domestic employment and attract foreign companies. Korea’s trade companies including the Wonpoong, Yuhwa Trading and Sampoong entered the country at the time, laying the foundation for Korea’s reliance on the Dominican Republic as a trade hub to third countries in the region. More recently, Korea’s apparel manufacturer Sae-A Trading opened a new factory in the Dominican Republic last year.
 
1998 José Miguel Parra in the KBO  
 
The KBO started allowing teams to recruit foreign players in 1998 and Dominican Republic’s José Miguel Parra became one of the first, playing for the Samsung Lions. Since then, around 100 players from the Dominican Republic have been added to the rosters in the KBO.  
 
In the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the two countries faced each other vying for the bronze medal, which the Dominican Republic took home with a 10-6 lead.
Members of the Dominican team celebrate after a score during a baseball game with Korea during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in Yokohama Stadium on Aug. 7, 2021. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

Members of the Dominican team celebrate after a score during a baseball game with Korea during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in Yokohama Stadium on Aug. 7, 2021. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

 
2006 President Leonel Fernández's visit
 
President Leonel Antonio Fernández Reyna visited Korea from June 29 to July 1 of 2006, meeting with Korea’s President Roh Moo-hyun. In the first visit by a president of the Dominican Republic to Korea, the two leaders discussed cooperation on trade and investment, the IT sector, sports and tourism.
Dominican President Leonel Fernández, left, shakes hands with Korean President Roh Moo-hyun, right, during their meeiting in Seoul on June 30, 2006. [JOONGANG PHOTO]

Dominican President Leonel Fernández, left, shakes hands with Korean President Roh Moo-hyun, right, during their meeiting in Seoul on June 30, 2006. [JOONGANG PHOTO]

 
2008 Gabriel Mercedes wins silver in taekwondo
 
The Dominican Republican athlete Gabriel Mercedes took home the silver medal in taekwondo at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The Dominican honor was repeated in 2016 when Luisito Piéwon the bronze medal in taekwondo at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
 
2018 Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon visits  
 
Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon visited the Dominican Republic, meeting with President Danilo Medina Sánchez in Santo Domingo and with members of the Korean businesspeople based in the Caribbean nation, as well as an economic delegation of the Dominican Republic. Lee also visited a youth health center set up in the city by Koica.  
 
Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon, left, meets with Dominican President Danilo Medina Sánchez in Santo Domingo on March 15, 2018. [OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER]

Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon, left, meets with Dominican President Danilo Medina Sánchez in Santo Domingo on March 15, 2018. [OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER]

 
2022 Celebration of 60th anniversary  
 
To commemorate 60 years of friendship with Korea, three Dominican trees — the Bayahibe rose, the mahogany and the guayacán, known to be the hardest of all hardwoods – will be planted at Seoul’s botanical garden.
 
A Dominican film festival will be held on June 8 at the Korean Film Archives, followed by the visit of a Dominican delegation headed by the Dominican minister for energy and mines from July 4 to 5.  
 
A Latin jazz concert by Michel Camilo, winner of one Grammy and three Latin Grammys, will be held at the Jeju Forum in September, followed by the Dominican Week in Seoul in October, which will include a culinary festival and rum-tasting at the Four Seasons’ Charles H Bar; a grand ball with Dominican music, chocolates, cigars and rum; and an art exhibit.
 
[EMBASSY OF THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC IN KOREA]

[EMBASSY OF THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC IN KOREA]


BY ESTHER CHUNG [chung.juhee@joongang.co.kr]
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