The logo of the sixtieth anniversary of bilateral relations, designed by Balmer Hählen, depicts two flowers happily walking side-by-side: One is the Swiss Edelweiss, the other is South Korea’s national flower, the Mugunghwa. Just as the flowers are putting their arms around each other’s shoulders in celebration of their friendship, the relationship between South Korea and Switzerland, whose capital cities lie 8862.2km apart from each other, is characterized by friendly interactions and ever-evolving collaborations in many important fields.
First contacts and establishment of diplomatic relations
But how did this special relationship begin? To answer this question, one must go back to 1884, when the Consul of Switzerland to Japan, Arnold Wolff, requested to the Swiss government to expand his duties to Joseon Korea. That same decade, cautious plans for a trade agreement with the Land of the Morning Calm began to take shape. Swiss adventurer Max Huber found himself surprised upon discovering that Joseon’s last Emperor Sunjung employed a Swiss hostess for foreign receptions at his palace during his voyage to the Empire in 1890. The outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War in 1885 and Japan’s subsequent annexation of Korea in 1910, however, put the Federal Council’s plan for more economic cooperation on hold.
Korean independence fighters found resonance for their cause in Switzerland, when the Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ) printed an anonymous article by a Korean delegate who urged caution against Japan’s imperial ambitions in a remarkable stand against the Imperial Rule of Korea by the Japanese Empire. Switzerland also served as refuge for persecuted individuals in the 1920s. After finding a new home in the Alpine nation, Korean pro-independence fighter Lee Han-ho supported South Korean President Rhee Syngman’s diplomatic activities in Switzerland and acted as team leader during the 1948 Winter Olympics in Saint Moritz. He was buried in Schaffhausen, and his remains returned to South Korea in autumn 2022.
Apart from chance meetings and sporadic visits by Swiss missionaries to South Korea in the early twentieth century, exchange remained limited over the next few decades. The Swiss government formally recognized South Korea on 19 December 1962. The official establishment of diplomatic relations followed shortly after on 11 February 1963. The first Korean Ambassador to Switzerland, Lee Han-bin, was appointed on 29 March 1963 and began his work at the Sangju Embassy in Bern. Jean de Rham, the first Swiss Ambassador to South Korea, commenced his service on 28 January 1965 at the Consulate, 1965 in Seoul. The Consulate was converted into an Embassy in 1969. In 2019, the new Embassy building located in Jongno-gu was inaugurated after a few years of temporary relocation to Yongsan-gu.
These days, South Korea and Switzerland maintain a good political relationship. During the first visit of a South Korean President to Switzerland by Park Geun-hye in 2014, several agreements were signed to signal the intention on more cooperation for social security, health, economy and to institutionalize the political dialogue. Vice versa, a reciprocal visit of Federal Councillor Johann Schneider-Ammann to South Korea with an economic delegation took place in 2016. On the occasion of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in 2018, President of the Confederation, Alain Berset, was received cordially by President Moon Jae-in to advance cooperation, particularly in the field of science, and to reaffirm the excellent relations between the two countries. Federal Councillor Guy Parmelin met with his counterpart Song Young-moo in his function as Swiss Defense Minister to discuss plans for a data protection agreement. Right in time for the anniversary year, President Yoon Suk-yeol attended the World Economic Forum in Davos held in January 2023 to address the role of the international community in combatting the global economic crisis.
Political exchanges between South Korea and Switzerland also flourish through the Swiss-Korea Parliamentary Friendship Group, whose members from the National Council and the Council of States organize meetings on Swiss-Korean issues during parliamentary sessions and maintain contact with the Korean Ambassador to Switzerland and their counterparts in the Korean parliament to highlight political, economic and cultural topics. On the occasion of the anniversary, delegates of the group are set to visit South Korea to meet with their Korean colleagues to discuss and celebrate together. In the multilateral sphere such as the United Nations, Switzerland and South Korea are active members of the international community to promote the rule of law and universal values to advance global issues and foster international solidarity.
Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission in Korea (NNSC)
Even though formal relations began in earnest only in 1963, Switzerland established a presence on the Korean peninsula already at the end of the Korean War (1950-1953), when the Federal Council was approached by the United States upon recommendation by the South Korean government to monitor the armistice agreement between South and North Korea. With strong support from Federal Councillor and Head of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs Max Petitpierre, the Federal Council agreed to authorize the Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sport to deploy a number of armed military personnel to the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission in Korea (NNSC) to supervise, observe and inspect the armistice agreement and the Neutral Nations Repatriation Commission in Korea (NNRC) to facilitate the exchange of prisoners on 25 June 1953. Although the original duties of the NNSC have been reduced to inspection and confidence-building tasks in the meantime and the NNRC was dissolved in February 1954 upon completion of its task, the NNSC remains an important aspect of Swiss peace promotion abroad and marked a shift towards Switzerland becoming a more active actor for the international community. After fifty years of Swiss presence at the border, then-Federal Councillor Micheline Calmy-Rey became the first foreign government official to step across the demarcation line separating the two Koreas in 2003. Twenty years onward, the NNSC’s presence on the Korean peninsula turns 70 years old. As such, the year 2023 commemorates two milestones of Switzerland and South Korea’s special connection.
Economy and business
The years after the foundation of the NNSC and the establishment of diplomatic relations saw a quick rapprochement of the two countries. Economic activities began to pick up, with several Swiss companies opening offices in South Korea to supply chemicals, pharmaceuticals and machinery. Export-oriented policies in the 1970s and the rise of Korean family conglomerates in addition to donations received by the United States helped South Korea achieve growth rates of up to 11% per year on average for much of the 1980s. By the time of the Seoul Olympics in 1988, the “tiger economy” had transformed into a middle-income country.
Switzerland benefitted from this rapid economic development. Bilateral agreements on investments, air travel and double taxation opened the door for Switzerland to become South Korea’s fourth biggest foreign investor at the time in 1986. The ever-growing economic cooperation resulted in the foundation of the Swiss-Korean Business Council (SKBC) in 1993. Until today, the council serves as platform to create network opportunities and foster connections between the business communities of Switzerland and South Korea.
By 1996, South Korea had become a member in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), opening a platform to intensify cooperation on economic matters. The signing of a Free Trade Agreement in 2006 between the Economic Free Trade Association (EFTA), of which Switzerland forms part, and South Korea symbolizes the shared interests and characteristics of the two countries: open market economy and strong multilateral frameworks. The agreement has benefited the economic relations, as trade between the two countries continues to grow, with the bilateral trade volume reaching over CHF 5.3 billion in 2021.
After the turn of the millennia, more and more Swiss companies opened branches in South Korea and Swiss watches have become a symbol of luxury for many Koreans since the companies entered the market in the early 2000s. In Switzerland, the durability, quality and luxury of Korean cars are appreciated by many and Korean electronics and home appliances have become a staple in numerous households. Today, chemical and pharmaceutical products remain the most important trading goods between the two countries, followed by watches and machinery. Since 2010, the Swiss Business Hub in Korea (SBHK) acts as local representative of Switzerland Global Enterprise (S-GE) to promote business relations between Swiss and Korean actors. Through its branch office in Zurich, the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) facilitates commerce and investment between the countries already since 1972.
In this sense, the countries are well prepared for continuous economic cooperation in the next 60 years.
Science and Innovation
Not only have economic exchanges expanded, Switzerland and South Korea are also frequent collaborators in the fields of science and technology. The Agreement on Cooperation in the Fields of Science and Technology signed in 2008 is a testament to their shared desire to reinforce their status as “innovation champions”. With both countries claiming the respective number 1 spots in the Europe and Asia-Pacific regions, Innosuisse’s cooperation with the Korea Institute for Advancement of Technology (KIAT) calls on research institutions and companies to carry out joint science-based innovation projects since 2013. The Swiss-Korean Innovation week, organized since 2018, is a testament to the countries’ commitment to find new products and activities in different fields benefitting a wide range of people. The Swiss-Korean Life Science Initiative similarly brings together experts from science, medicine and biotech to initiate common projects and form partnerships. At the Embassy, the Science & Technology Office (STO) links Swiss and Korean universities, research institutes, R&D-focused companies and start-ups to promote science, technology and innovation.
Hundred years after Lee Kwan-yong became the first Korean to obtain a doctoral degree from the University of Zurich in 1921, collaboration in education has yet to catch up to the progress made in the fields of science, technology and business. Nonetheless, various cooperation agreements between Swiss and South Korean universities exist and the tradition of supporting young researchers in their academic endeavors is kept alive through the Korean-Swiss Young Researchers’ Exchange Programme. The city partnership between Basel and Seoul signed in 2022 to foster innovation in economic and scientific fields further illustrates the two countries’ growing shared interests and thirst for friendly cooperation.
Culture and soft power
Despite their geological distance, Switzerland and South Korea are more similar than one might assume at first glance: An expectation of politeness, a strong preference for punctuality and a love for hiking are only a few of the features Swiss and Korean people have in common. Since overseas travel was normalized in 1989, many Korean tourists have visited the Swiss Alps. A shop on top of the Jungfrau Mountain reacted to this increase in 1999 by beginning to sell the Korean cup noodles Shin Ramyun for the visitors from the Far East. Other cottages and resorts have since followed. The Korean drama series Crash Landing on You has recently led to buses extending their services for Korean tourists travelling to the Swiss village Iseltwald in search of a bit of peace and quietness away from the bustling crowds of South Korea’s metropoles. Likewise, Swiss architect Nicholas Vaucher found himself inspired by traditional Korean architecture whilst designing the Embassy building in Seoul. Affectionately referred to as the “Swiss Hanok”, the building is a contemporary interpretation of the traditional Korean houses dating back to the Joseon dynasty. As one of the capital’s landmarks, it instantly serves as a visual cue for the warm relationship between Switzerland and South Korea and is frequently used as exhibition space for Korean and Swiss artworks.
Conclusion
The auspicious sixtieth birthday of the relations between Switzerland and South Korea calls for celebrations, as the countries return to the year of birth after circling five times around the twelve-year lunar calendar. The year presents the perfect opportunity to plan ahead for the next cycle. The Swiss tenancy on the United Nations Security Council for the 2023 – 2024 period and the membership of both countries in many international organizations give ample room for more multilateral cooperation and for reflection about the roles South Korea and Switzerland will take on to foster peace and dialogue on our planet.