Sometimes in spite of whatever planning you might attempt, visitors do have a habit of coming all at once. So it was this week. I realized at the end of it, that in the space of seven days, I didn’t have a single normal breakfast to myself, I managed one lunch at home and ate every dinner out or with guests at home. But it was all worth while.
The visitors were first the British Ambassador from Pyongyang, Peter Hughes. He’s been there for over a year now and this was his first opportunity to get to Seoul to exchange views and information about the DPRK, in a way that is hardly possible in Pyongyang. So he saw a good mix of governmental, military, academic and diplomatic contacts in a crowded three-day programme.
Overlapping with him was Mr Quentin Davies, who is the Minister for Defence Equipment and Supply at the UK Ministry of Defence. The main reason for his visit was the Seoul Air Show, and he also saw his opposite numbers and gave a speech about the procurement of defence equipment.
In fact, all three of the visitors were here on the Wednesday of the week, so I was a bit torn three ways. The final visitor was Professor Alison Richard, the vice-Chancellor of Cambridge University. Of course the Embassy wasn’t responsible for organizing her programme in the way we did for the other two, but I hosted a reception at my house for Cambridge alumni and attended two other events with the vice-Chancellor.
There can be times that diplomacy can appear to be a high-class travel agency, catering and hotel business. Those aspects actually are important to be sure visitors get the most out of their time overseas, but it’s always important to keep in mind just why and how visits like this contribute to the Embassy’s objectives. This week
• we’ve learned more than we did before about how the Republic of Korea currently assesses the stance of the DPRK and what the next moves might be in relations between North and South Korea;
• we’ve explored the possibilities of further partnerships between the UK and Korea in the defence sector, including some projects with European and US partners;
• we’ve encouraged Cambridge alumni to remember their alma mater in the year of its 800th birthday, reminded many influential Koreans of the excellence of UK science and academic endeavour and persuaded young Koreans to consider studying at Cambridge – including through the joint scholarship scheme announced last week with the FCO’s Chevening programme.
from gettyimages
Posted at 16:38 26 October 2009 by Martin Uden | Comments[1]
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Freedom of Expression in the Digital Age
A few things came together to inspire us in the Embassy to arrange a seminar on “Freedom of Expression on the Internet”, which took place last Friday. First was the anniversary of British journalist, Ernest Bethell’s death (see my blog of 11 May for details about him), then the case of ‘Minerva’ in Korea, a blogger on trial (and subsequently found not guilty) for spreading false information with harmful intent, and more generally some work we’d done last year on the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights.
The dilemmas posed by the internet and its relatively unregulated nature are things that I feel would have attracted Bethell. It’s also a live issue in both the UK and Korea and we have experiences and ideas to share with each other. Both the Korean Ministry for Culture, Media and Sports and the Korea Communications Commission agreed to co-organise the seminar, and the Embassy brought out two expert speakers from the UK (Derek Wyatt, MP, Chair of the Parliamentary Group on Communications, and Dr Ian Brown of the Oxford Internet Institute – for their presentations, click here). In addition, the Korea Press Foundation and the Netherlands Embassy helped with sponsorship.
On the day, hundreds turned up to listen to, and debate with, experts from government, business, media and regulators. The presentations were of a very high standard and brought out just the issues that I hoped would get an airing, from the balance between protecting privacy and maintaining freedom of expression, to the question of legislation versus self-regulation. Obviously, these are sensitive issues, and different countries will try to resolve them differently, but that’s why it’s good to look at them in an international context.
A fascinating day and this issue won’t go away any time soon…
Posted at 17:17 06 July 2009 by Martin Uden | Comments[2]
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