The following has been contributed by the Greek Embassy in Seoul to mark the March 25 declaration of the War of Independence of 1821 ― Ed.

In Greece, you are at a crossroads of colors and cultures. The country has 17 UNESCO world heritage sites, a uniquely rich historical past and flourishing arts such as architecture, sculpture, pottery, weaving, music, jewelry-making and painting.

Running from prehistoric times to the establishment of the modern Greek state, Greek culture is a continuum of civilization evolving over thousands of years, not only on Greek soil, but wherever the Greeks have lived and prospered. 


Greece and Korea have had a longstanding tradition of friendship and cooperation. Most importantly, the two countries have forged unbreakable ties of brotherhood through Greece’s participation in the Korean War. Five thousand Greek troops fought under the United Nations Command, and 192 young Greek soldiers lost their lives while more than 600 were wounded in action fighting to protect the freedom of the Korean people and guarantee their right to live in a democratic country.

Nevertheless, Korea and Greece are interconnected not only through the common struggle for peace, freedom and democracy. The first ever customer of Hyundai Shipyard in 1971 was the Greek shipping company Livanos, who placed an order with the shipyard, before it was even built, when he was shown a Korean won bank note with a picture of the “turtle ship” invented by Adm. Yi Sun-shin. This order made it possible for Chung Ju-young, founder of the Hyundai Group, to attract further investment in order to build and expand his business to the booming conglomerate of today. 

Korea and Greece have already excellent economic relations, but there is an even greater potential. The bilateral Agreement for Economic Cooperation and the Korea-EU Free Trade Agreement can play a significant role.

It should be mentioned that Greece faces a severe economic crisis, which is caused by excessive public sector debt.

Of course, Greece has taken bold measures to face the crisis. With the help of the European Union, we managed to stabilize our public finances. In 2014 for the first time we have achieved a primary budget surplus of 1.5 percent. In addition, our lost competitiveness has been restored through drastic economic reforms. Meanwhile, the Greek banking system has been fully recapitalized.

Greece is currently negotiating with its eurozone partners their support for a revised economic program, which should be growth-oriented, with less budgetary measures and more reforms.

At this critical moment, Korean companies could take advantage of opportunities created by the crisis, by investing in Greece in sectors such as energy, telecommunications, maritime technologies, banking, tourism, fiber optics, logistics, transportation and many others.

Despite the crisis, Greece has still a lot of advantages. It is a developed country and the only eurozone member in its geographical area. Greece plays a very important role in its region, where it is a significant trade and investment player. A very large number of Greek companies are established in southeastern Europe, where they have invested in crucial sectors such as banking, telecommunications, IT, retail and wholesale, mining, energy, petroleum products, construction and real estate.

Its location makes Greece an ideal gateway to central and eastern Europe, including Russia. It should be noted that the center of gravity of economic activity in Europe is moving eastward. Greek ports are much closer to these new rising markets than the ports of Western Europe.

Korea, for its part, has become a world class industrial powerhouse. It should definitely have a strong interest in Europe and the Middle East. Greek and Korean companies in several fields have complementary activities and could establish joint ventures both in Greece and in third countries.

World class transport infrastructure and Greece’s unique location offer the country access to many and diverse trading partners, as well as a destination for peoples of the world to meet. Access to Greece is made easy through its impressive transport infrastructure network of road, sea and air routes.

It should be noted that Greece is one of the biggest maritime nations in the world, whereas Korea is the largest shipbuilding country. It is estimated that around 25 percent of the orders received by Korean shipyards originate from Greek ship owners.

Korean-Greek shipbuilding cooperation is particularly important for both nations. Indeed, Korean shipyards face strong international competition, mostly because of the rise of China and to a lesser extent the appreciation of the won against the yen. It is well understood that Greek ship owners have great importance for the Korean shipbuilding industry.

On the other hand, Greece has its own benefits form the shipbuilding cooperation with Korea. Greek ship owners may enhance their competitiveness by having their ships built in the technologically advanced Korean shipyards, especially high tech ships, such as LNG Carriers.

In addition, there is a strong interest by Greek maritime equipment manufacturers to supply Korean shipyards with their products.

Apart from shipbuilding, Greece is a very good market for Korean automobiles, electronics and other industrial products. Also, Korean companies have been assigned with the implementation of important projects, such as supply of subway rail vehicles and public transport electronic ticketing.

Greek products have much smaller presence in the Korean market. Due to the structure of the two economies, we do not expect a complete balance in bilateral trade. Of course, we do believe that we can increase our exports in products such as food and beverages (such as canned fruits, olive oil, wine, dried fruits and herbs), cosmetics, chemical products, minerals, tobacco, construction materials and many others.

Tourism is the largest industry in the Greek economy with over 20 million foreign tourists each year. It accounts for 15 percent of gross domestic product and employs 16.5 percent of the country’s workforce. Greece has a magnificent natural beauty and unique historic and cultural treasures that make it a very attractive tourist destination. As a result, tourism can partially offset our large trade deficit with Korea. Around 40,000 Korean tourists visit Greece each year.

Lately, Greece has become very popular among Korean people. That is why there is a potential for a significant increase of Korean visitors to Greece. Of course, establishing a direct flight between our countries is a prerequisite for increasing tourism and business cooperation.

The end of 2013 marked yet another milestone for the bilateral relations and set the framework for even more ambitious future endeavors, with the state visit of the President of Greece Karolos Papoulias. The summit with President Park Geun-hye, coupled with a successful business forum, with the participation of 180 Korean businessmen, yielded fruitful results that contributed to the further expansion of the scope and potential of the cooperation of the two countries.

The Greek community in South Korea is relatively small, at around 350 people, and mainly consists of personnel involved in work on Greek-owned ships at the shipyards of Ulsan, Busan and Mokpo and their families. The Orthodox Metropolis (Church) of Korea maintains eight churches and two monasteries and helps preserve and enhance the presence of orthodoxy in Korea, which goes back 110 years.

On March 25, Greeks around the world commemorate the declaration of the War of Independence of 1821, and celebrate the active role Greece has played since then in the region, Europe and more recently within the European Union as well as in international forums. But more than everything else, Greeks worldwide celebrate the incredible history, the rich cultural background, and the adventurous spirit that has led Greeks to travel and prosper all over the world without ever forgetting the motherland.