Faro may eventually twin with a city in the Republic of South Korea. The news was announced by the mayor of Faro, last Wednesday, during the premiere, in the Algarve capital, of the film «Minari», promoted by the Korean Embassy in Portugal, and confirmed by the ambassador himself in an interview with Sul Informação.
"The best way to link the two peoples is to build bridges between people who live in one country and another," said Ambassador Song Oh, in an exclusive interview he gave to our newspaper. “We have some Koreans living in the Algarve who come from different cities in Korea. Maybe they can be the bridge between the Algarve region and some places in our country. The Korean community in Portugal is very important to develop these bilateral relations between the two countries», added the diplomat.
The recent premiere of the award-winning film «Minari» (nominated for six Academy Awards, ended up winning Best Supporting Actress, awarded to Yoon Yeo-jeong) in Faro, after having been presented in Lisbon and Porto, is part of the program for the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Korea and Portugal, which takes place in 2021.
Ambassador Song Oh explained that “this year is very important for the Korean Embassy, as we celebrate the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations. We want to use these celebrations to promote Korea and Korean culture among the Portuguese people, not only in Lisbon, but throughout the country».
“The film “Minari” is very special for us, because of the story it tells,” added the ambassador. «Last year, we had a very good film, “Parasitas” [Oscar for Best Foreign Film in 2020], which made the Portuguese public increase their interest in Korean cinema. “Minari”, even though it is produced by an American production company, has a director, a crew and a cast made up of Koreans or American-Koreans. It's a story of Koreans who emigrated to America».
But there is a funny coincidence. In the early 70s, a young Korean in his twenties, from a poor family, decided to go abroad in search of a better life. He ended up arriving in Portugal, empty-handed, knowing only a few words of Portuguese that he learned on the flight that brought him. But it was here that he settled, got married, had children and grandchildren. This is the true story of Chong-song Won, one of the oldest members of the Korean community in Portugal.
«This film was also shown in Porto and we invited this Korean immigrant who came to Portugal in 1972, lives and works in Caramulo. Mr. Won came to Portugal almost 50 years ago, he started his life here, just like the characters in the movie “Minari”, working in aviaries, like chicken sexer, the people who divide the chicks between males and females».
In Caramulo, Mr. Won ended up becoming a businessman linked to the agricultural world, founding the Won products. Inspired by a traditional Korean recipe called “jocheong”, it started producing Corn Jelly, a natural sweetener still used today as a substitute for conventional sugar. This product was joined by many others, always natural, which are sold in specialized stores across the country.
In the Algarve, there is also a small Korean community to live. One of these natives of the Asian country is a young Tourism student at the University of Algarve's ESHGT, who also has a history of overcoming difficulties. This student was in the UK on an exchange program when he came to the Algarve for a few days of vacation with English colleagues. A bad dive made him paraplegic, having been treated at the Center for Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation of the South, in São Brás de Alportel. His parents ended up coming from Korea to the Algarve to accompany their son. The young Korean's colleagues from the Tourism class, who also watched the premiere of the film “Minari”, accompanied by his father, were also invited to the session in Faro.
The main focus of the program to celebrate 60 years of diplomatic relations between Korea and Portugal is Culture – in addition to the premiere, there was a cycle of Korean Cinema Classics, in collaboration with Cinemateca Portuguesa, but there will also be other cultural events: Quizz on Korea, K-Pop Festival, K-Food Competition (June), a Korean Culture Festival in collaboration with the City Museum, in Lisbon (July), initiatives at the Lisbon and Porto Book Fairs (August), among others.
To make known the rich historical heritage of Korea, premiered this Sunday, the 16th, on RTP1 (11:30 am), the documentary series in eight episodes “UNESCO World Heritage – The Time Capsule of Humanity”.
In your interview with Sul Informação, Ambassador Song Oh explained that, «to promote bilateral relations between countries, the fundamental thing is the people, the people. In terms of relationships between people, perception is very important and Culture can have a big impact on how people perceive the other country. That is why the Embassy is very focused on cultural exchanges between our two peoples, between Korea and Portugal».
The goal, he stressed, is that "the peoples of our two countries can have feelings of mutual friendship."
One of the ways to get to know each other is through Tourism. In 2019, before the pandemic, 200 Korean tourists visited Portugal. It may seem like a lot, but, according to the ambassador, “it is a number that can still grow, because, in the same year, 29 million Koreans traveled abroad. We have a lot of room to grow, to attract more Korean tourists».
In order to contribute to this, the audio guide service in Korean on tour buses began this May. hop on & hop off in Port. Soon, the same could happen in Lisbon. These tour buses also started to carry the Korean flag. «Whenever Korean tourists see their flag on these buses, when they walk in the streets, they feel good, they feel closer to Portugal and the Portuguese people».
The diplomat recounts his own experience: «in one of the Port wine cellars, at Taylor's, I saw that they provide audio guides in Korean, which leads many Koreans to prefer to visit them. Instead of having to listen in English, they listen to explanations in their mother tongue».
Economic relations can also be a means of making a people known. In Portugal, many of the main Korean brands are well known to the public, who often do not even know their origin: Kia, Daewoo, Samsung, LG, are some of the best known.
However, our country is not one of those that most attract Korean investment in Europe. Because, as ambassador Song Oh explained, "at this moment, the investment of Korean companies is not very large, because psychologically and geographically, Portugal is very far away".
Despite this, «there are Korean companies that have invested in Portugal in the automotive components industry, but the major automobile production lines of Korean brands in Europe are in Poland, in Slovakia. For Korean entrepreneurs, coming to Portugal is not easy».
That's why, he argues, “the first thing to do is to capture people's attention. We have to invest in the exchange process between people, so that they begin to know and recognize Portugal and turn their eyes to the Portuguese market».
The Korean Embassy also wanted to strengthen ties with Portugal in a more direct way, sharing the difficulties that the Portuguese are going through due to the Covid-19 pandemic and expressing its solidarity in various ways.
«The main function of the Embassy is to create bridges between the Korean people and the Portuguese. I wanted to give a good impression of the Korean people to the Portuguese. I heard that there were Portuguese students with difficulties in following classes online, due to lack of computer. Therefore, we discussed with the Portuguese Red Cross how to help these students and it was thought that it would be useful to donate tablets and keyboards to students». And so, last February, 100 tablets and 100 keyboards from a South Korean brand were donated to CVP, to deliver them to Portuguese students.
But the solidarity didn't stop there: "we also wanted to thank the health professionals for the way they handled the Covid situation, so we donated protective clothing." In total, 1000 personal protective equipment were donated, half of which to the Regional Health Administration of Lisbon and Vale do Tejo and the other half to CVP.
For September, a Campaign of Friendship and Solidarity is also planned, with the donation of food to needy families.
«We want to win the hearts of the Portuguese and these exchanges between people are very important», adds the ambassador with a smile.
As can be seen, the Republic of South Korea is making an effort to make itself known to the Portuguese. And Portugal, is it known in Korea?
«When I was studying History at the Secondary School, I remember hearing about [Bartolomeu] Dias and Vasco da Gama, who were very famous Portuguese. But now what is most talked about is football players – Eusébio, Figo, Ronaldo – so we have to increase the level of knowledge of Koreans in relation to Portugal».
Something is already changing. Ambassador Song Oh revealed that recently a leading “Korean newspaper wrote that Portugal is a very good country for tourism and very safe and that has given your country a good reputation. Our Embassy has also made a great effort to promote Portugal: this week I will have an interview with an important Korean radio station and this will be a good opportunity for me to talk about Portugal to the Korean people».
While the pandemic does not allow travel to normalize, you can learn a little about the Koreans' way of being in the film «Minari», which is being shown in movie theaters across the country, namely in the Algarve.
"Minari" tells the story of a Korean-American family who moves to rural Arkansas in the 80s in search of their own American dream. The film won the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award at the 2020 Sundance Festival, the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film 2021, the Best Supporting Actress at the Screen Actors Guild Awards, the BAFTA for Best Supporting Actress and the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.
As ambassador Song Oh recalls in an article he recently published in Diário de Notícias, «Minari is a plant originally from South Korea, this plant grows well in both wetlands and arid lands, establishing a parallel with the vitality and adaptability of that immigrants need in an unknown land».
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