‘El Universo’ “Korea-Ecuador 60 Years” column published
“The starting line was similar at the time of establishment of diplomatic ties, but there is a big difference now”
“Korea needs education…inspiration to get out of poverty”
Ecuador’s influential media in South America published a column highlighting Korea’s economic growth on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of diplomatic ties between Korea and Ecuador, saying, “It was a country that we even sent rice to during the war, but now it has grown into one of the most prestigious countries.” . In particular, he diagnosed that there was a passion for education in the background of Korea’s growth, emphasizing that poverty should be overcome by solving educational problems like in Korea.
On the 30th (local time), the Ecuadorian daily ‘El Universo’, which celebrated its 101st anniversary this year, published a column titled ’60 Years of Korea and Ecuador’ by columnist Richard Salazar Medina (Doctor of Anthropology).
In a column, Dr. Medina said, “When the two countries established diplomatic ties in 1962, the starting line was similar.”
He mentioned that in the early 1960s, Korea was one of the poorest countries in the world, inferior to all countries in Latin America, but now it has produced world-class companies. He continued, saying that Korea had to depend on unstable agriculture during the Japanese colonial period and the Korean War.
Medina also said that the ‘friendship’ between the two countries has been going on for quite some time. In 1950, Ecuador, a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, approved a resolution against North Korea’s invasion of South Korea during the Korean War. It had not been long since the earthquake occurred, but 500 tons of rice were shipped to Korea.
It was also mentioned that the history of the division of Korea due to the war with Peru is similar. Dr Medina said, “We made a peace agreement (with Peru), but Korea is still in a truce. Nevertheless, Korea is now part of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)’s prestigious national group,” said Medina.
He also cited ‘education fever’ as Korea’s growth engine. It is interpreted as the purpose of finding the cause of Ecuador’s failure to break free from the cycle of low growth in education. Ecuador originally wanted to be reborn as a wealthy country through the abundant natural resource of oil. Oil accounts for about 40% of Ecuador’s total exports and about a third of government tax revenue. Oil reserves amount to about 8 billion barrels, the third largest in Latin America after Venezuela and Brazil.
Dr. Medina said, “Poverty is still a word that represents the miserable reality of our population. You can get inspiration from Korea, where education was hard above all else to get out of poverty.”
Shin Hyun-bo, reporter at Hankyung.com greaterfool@hankyung.com