22 January 2009
Visit to Australia by Republic of Korea Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan
The Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade of the Republic of Korea, His Excellency Mr Yu Myung-hwan, will visit Australia from today to Saturday 24 January.
Mr Yu's visit will commence in Perth, where he and I will hold bilateral discussions on Friday 23 January, followed by a wreath laying at the Western Australia State War Memorial and then a lunch with political, community and business leaders.
Mr Yu will spend Saturday 24 January in Sydney.
This is only the second bilateral visit to Australia by a South Korean Foreign Minister in 25 years, and the first visit by a South Korean Minister since the inauguration of the Government of President Lee Myung-bak in February 2008.
Both the Prime Minister and I visited the Republic of Korea last year.
Australia and South Korea enjoy a longstanding and close friendship.
The modern Australia-Korea relationship was forged in the Korean War, during which our soldiers were side-by-side during three years of bitter fighting on the Peninsula between 1950 and 1953.
As countries in the Asia-Pacific region both with formal alliances with the United States, we share many values and interests and work together on issues of importance to the region.
We have a strong and complementary trading relationship. South Korea is Australia's third largest merchandise export market and our sixth largest export market including goods and services.
Australia's number one export to South Korea is crude oil totalling over A$2 billion in 2007-08 and Western Australia is South Korea's primary source of iron ore with exports of more than A$2 billion in 2007-08. South Korea is also Australia's sixth largest beef market.
Our relationship is also underpinned by strong people-to-people links. Korea is now Australia's number one source of working holiday-makers and is the third largest source of overseas students for Australia.
Mr Yu's visit will be an important opportunity to work towards deepening the already strong partnership between Australia and South Korea.
Our discussions will focus on strengthening security and economic cooperation between our two countries.
Media inquiries
- Mr Smith's office 02 6277 7500
- Departmental Media Liaison 02 6261 1555