Denmark in brief

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Denmark in brief

Denmark in brief

Capital: Copenhagen

Major cities: Aarhus, Odense, Aalborg

Official language: Danish

Population: About 5.6 million

Religion: Mostly Evangelical Lutheran

Area: 16,639 square miles

Number of Korean expats: 551 (2014)



Friend and ally

Diplomatic ties between Denmark and Korea were established March 11, 1959.

But the friendship can be traced back years earlier to 1951 during the Korean War, when Demark sent the hospital ship MS Jutlandia to treat almost 5,000 military personnel and over 6,000 civilians. This year marks the 65th anniversary of the ship’s arrival at the port of Busan.



Heavy trade

Danish export to Korea recorded an all-time high in 2015 with approximately $1 billion. Main products were general industrial machinery and equipment, transport equipment (other than road-vehicles), medicinal and pharmaceutical products, power-generating machinery and equipment, and food products. Korean export to Denmark in the same year hit almost $2 billion.



Diverse investment

Danish investment in Korea is mainly in manufacturing (mostly food, chemicals, nonmetallic minerals, electricity and electronics) and services (mainly culture and entertainment, business services and distribution). Korean investment in Denmark is primarily in manufacturing.



Cultural exchange

The home of noted author Hans Christian Andersen, Denmark is widely known as the “land of fairy tales” among literary fanatics in Korea. The two countries boast robust cultural exchange in this field, with one notable example being a replica of Copenhagen’s bronze statue of the Little Mermaid, soon set to be erected in Seoul after an agreement between the two cities in 2014.



Jule Helen Glaser Lehmann

Born in Berlin, West Germany, in 1975, Jule Helen Glaser Lehmann graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in social anthropology and a Master of Arts in contemporary European studies from the University of Sussex in Brighton, England. Prior to moving to Seoul, she was personal assistant to the CEO of the Velux Foundations (2013), a Danish company specializing in windows and skylights. Her track record includes working at various positions in the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2008-13), the German-Danish Chamber of Commerce (2005-08) and the London branch of Gartner (2000-05), a global information technology research and advisory company based in the United States.



Danish Ambassador
Thomas Lehmann


Born in 1965 in Hellerup, just north of Copenhagen, Ambassador Thomas Lehmann graduated from the University of Copenhagen in 1992 with a Master of Science in economics and shortly thereafter was employed at the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Prior to his current role in Seoul, he was deputy head of mission in Dublin (1996) and Stockholm (2003-07). He was appointed as the Danish ambassador to Korea in September 2014 and now resides with his spouse and their 1-year-old daughter, Sofie. For the latest updates on Lehmann and the Danish Embassy in Seoul, visit his Twitter account (@DKAMBinKorea).



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