Prime Minister Bettel in South Korea, Day 1: Presidential Visit

On Tuesday 25 July 2023, on the first day of a three-day visit to South Korea, Luxembourg's Prime Minister, Xavier Bettel, was in Seoul, the country's capital city.

He was welcomed by Luxembourg's Ambassador to South Korea, Pierre Ferring - he resides in Tokyo as he also serves Japan and the Philippines - and Luxembourg's Consul-General to Seoul, Young-Chul Hong, the President of Kisiwre which has a subsidiary in Bettembourg, Luxembourg, and his son Seok-Pyo Hong. A short while later, Léon Moyen, a Luxembourgish veteran of the Korean War in the 1950s, also arrived at the hotel which serves as their base in Seoul, together with his son and grand-daughter.

The first official business of the trip involved an audience with the President of South Korea, Yoon Suk-Yeol, at his official residence, Cheongwadae (Blue House), involving Prime Minister Bettel, Léon Moyen and his two family members. The meeting that followed between the two leaders provided an opportunity to discuss the historical ties that unite Luxembourg and South Korea, bilateral relations as well as international news.

At the scheduled afternoon press conference, Léon Moyen spoke mainly in Luxembourgish and recalled his time in Korea in the early 1950s. He said one of the biggest changes being back in Korea is that the city of Seoul has many high-rise buildings, just like New York City.

At the press conference, Chronicle.lu asked Léon about languages: he confirmed that he speaks Luxembourgish daily at home in Canada. He also confirmed that, in the field 70 years ago, Luxembourgish, French and Dutch were all used, and explained: "It was never a problem really."

When asked why he became a volunteer, he stated: "The main reason that I did was to get [the Koreans] out of the same situation Luxembourg experienced in the 1940s. Also, I wanted to see the world. After commando training in Belgium, we took a boat and it took six weeks to get to Korea. The second time we flew in a DC4 and it took just a week to get there, stopping in many [air]ports along the way, including Hawaii and Japan."

He concluded by stating: "I appreciate what I did but I'm not proud of it."

Dinner

That evening, Prime Minister Bettel attended a dinner held in his honour along with representatives of South Korean companies established in Luxembourg. Members of the official delegation and members of the travelling Luxembourgish press also attended.

The dinner was held in a private room in a local restaurant serving traditional Korean food; Ambassador Pierre Ferring spoke in English and stated that he was very happy to be there this evening before introducing the Korean businessmen whose companies have subsidiary operations in Luxembourg, as well as the three LTIO representatives present in Seoul. He also acknowledged the Luxembourg journalists present who were covering the trip.

Award

He concluded by saying that this dinner was the ideal opportunity to present Younhee Kim, executive director of the Luxembourg Trade and Invest Office (LTIO) in Seoul for her 25 years of distinguished service.

Prime Minister Bettel was then handed the floor and said thanks for being able to get together and referenced the meeting earlier in the day with the president of South Korea. He especially referenced the participation of Léon Moyen, Luxembourgish veteran of the Korean War. He said it was interesting to see in Korea the high regard in which Luxembourg is held internationally.

He then presented Younhee Kim with the Couronne de Chene (chevalier) award and a present, with Ambassador Ferring presenting her with a bouquet of flowers.

Younhee Kim was encouraged to address those present; she said it was her honour to work for the great nation of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and she accepted the presents for the next 25 years...

One of the Korean businessmen also spoke and referenced the 70th anniversary of the Korean War Armistice which was signed on 27 July 1953. He mentioned his company's subsidiary in Bertrange. He also referenced the news of Luxembourg establishing an embassy in Seoul; he said his father, a previous ambassador of Korea to Luxembourg, would be very pleased. He thanked Prime Minister Bettel for his support, referencing his company's 45,000 employees, and also mentioned Busan applying to host the World Expo in 2030.

The formalities over, the dinner started with various Korean traditional dishes being served, including Kimchi (a type of pickled cabbage not unlike sauerkraut, but sweeter), pickled radish, stir-fried glass noodles with vegetables, various shellfish and octopus, deep-fried prawns and sweet potato, seafood pancakes, grilled cutlassfish, pork ribs and beef ribs, scallop and clam and abalone soup, with Korean black raspberry juice for dessert.