New book sheds light on Korean-European dealings

Korean interaction with Europe can be tricky but Philippe Li is attempting to at least make the business side of things go smoother.

President of the French Korean Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Li has written a book designed to help Koreans wishing to do business in Europe.

"When Korean people think about business and technologies they automatically run to America and to a lesser extent China and Japan. Which is understandable but we really need Europe in the loop," said Li.

In his book "Now it`s time for Europe," Li hopes to convince Korean businessmen that investing in Europe is a wise choice and gives them help as to how.



Li thinks that the time is ripe for further Korean investment in Europe and that recently Europe has simply not been high enough up on the list of trading partners for Korean firms.

"The present status of Europe and the potential for working with European people is somewhat unknown or neglected," Li said. "Europe has been very much criticized. I would say for legitimate reasons in the past and today.

"With the financial crisis ongoing, Korean businesses will see that Europe is a good choice, they have a system that is more regulated than in the U.S., they have employees that are more protected and social protection is absolute."

International trade has its difficulties, knowing what countries population would benefit from and desire your goods and what foreign goods your people desire is, quite literally, a million dollar skill. It is not one that an abundance of people have.

When seeking trading partners many nations look to geographically close nations and nations with similar cultures and issues, dealing with nations similar to your own just cuts down on the problems that may arise.

While Europe is indeed half a world away, Li maintains that there are multiple similarities between the cultures that Koreans are simply not aware of. This lack of knowledge may discourage Koreans from seeking to expand in Europe.

"One of the reasons I wrote this book was to break certain preconceptions about Europe. When you speak with Korean people about Europe they just think about tourism and leisure," he said.

"Korea has a lot of common experiences with Europe now. We have very similar issues such as unemployment of young people, an ageing populace and relocation of industrial plants to certain countries," added Li.

One issue that both Europe and Korea are world leaders in is the concept of green growth.

Climate change is a very real concern and both Korea and the EU are ready and willing to combat it in real terms. Both sides have a great deal to learn from each other in this important new sector.

Upon assuming the presidency of the European Union, Sweden stated that they desire a swift completion of the ongoing free trade agreement between Korea and the EU.

In 2008, the European Union imported over $58 billion worth of goods from Korea while exporting $39.7 billion. If the FTA is completed soon it is a safe assumption that these numbers will rise in the following years.

Li`s book hopes to help Korean business realize this massive potential market and ride the expanding bubble.

Li also works as an attorney at Kim and Change and is a member of the Paris and Brussels bars.

(tomuden4@gmail.com)

(yoav@heraldm.com)

By Tom Uden and Yoav Cerralbo