2008

23/10/2008 Seoul

Hungary celebrates 52 years since revolution

The JoongAng Daily published an article about the celebration of the 52nd anniversary of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution in Seoul.

The whole article can be read at http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2896348

13/11/2008 Seoul

Study & Research in Europe 2008, an education fair was held on 2008, Nov. 13th at Seoul National University. In this fair, diplomats in charge of education from 10 EU embassies gave lectures about study opportunities in Europe and about 220 Korean students and journalists took part in.

3 journalists invited by the Hungarian Embassy posted articles about this event. The articles in Joongang Daily and Korean Times can be found at

http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2897458

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/special/2008/11/139_34506.html

Korea Herald in its November 17 issue mentioned the advantage of the study in Hungary quoting Mr. Böröcz László who is in charge of education in Hungarian Embassy in its article, ‘Studying in Hungary can be affordable.’ The living cost in Hungary is cheaper than other neighboring countries and, in particular, house rental fee is half of that in England, U.S.A. and Australia. Recently the interests in Hungarian medical schools have been increased and the article particularly emphasized on the scholarship pool of Balassi Institute (http://www.bbi.hu/index.php?id=99&fid=110). Furthermore, English courses are open for those students who cannot speak Hungarian.

18/11/2008 Budapest - Seoul

Mr. Shin Kak-soo, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of South Korea held a consultation on 3rd of November, 2008 at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Mr. Shin was received by Márta Fekszi, Senior State Secretary, Mr. László Várkonyi and Gábor Szentiványi State Secretaries. Global questions, issues connected to European Union, the neighborhood policy of the Union, and the actual state of the bilateral relations were in the center of discussions. 

Mr. Béla Szombati, Head of Department of Strategic Planning and Information Management of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs held consultations at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MOFAT) and the Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security on November 14th, 2008 in South Korea. Global issues, regional economic, political and security topics were discussed in the meetings. Mr. Szombati paid a courtesy call on Mr. Shin Kak-soo, Vice Minister of MOFAT.

21/11/2008 Seoul

Dong-A Ilbo 1.7 million-piece-daily-publishing Korean newspaper posted a very friendly article about Hungary on Nov. 21st.

This traveling essay written by a journalist who visited Hungary herself introduces her experiences in Hungary. Especially, the picture of the Parliament building is taken by the embassy member, Mr. Magyar Tibor.

The brief summary about the article is like below.

* * * * *

Dong-A Ilbo, November 21st, 2008

Budapest, timeless altitude – magic castle reflected on Danube

Pearl of Eastern Europe, Budapest

Danube River crossing 9 countries started from southern Germany is dividing Budapest into Buda and Pest with 2 million populations. The two cities were combined about 100 years ago. Grand Palace and Rose Hill are located in the old town, Buda.

City of Long History and Culture

With its 1200-year-old history Budapest shows various types of architecture. The famous ones are Saint Istvan Cathedral, Parliament building and Opera House. Hungarian thermal bath has been popular since Roman period and nowadays you can find about 100 baths in Budapest. You shouldn’t miss other famous spots, such as the first bridge in Danube, “Szécheny Bridge”, and the first subway in continental Europe, “M1”.

Rustic Charm of Alleys

You can find the true charm of Budapest in the alleys that still have the shape of the past. It is because of the lack of budget to rebuild the old buildings under the socialist’s regime which had been continued until 1989. This makes us feel the real old Europe in Budapest.

Because of the popularity of the Korean TV drama, “Daejangkeun”, Hungarian people become interested in Korean food. However, there are only 4 Korean restaurants. It seems that Hungarians still have more distance from Korea than China or Japan. I definitely want to visit Hungary again. – finished the article.

03/12/2008 Seoul

On December 3rd 2008, the Anniversary Concert of Ahn Eak Tai was held in Seoul KBS Hall at 19:30, hosted by Ahn Eak Tai Foundation. The concert held every year in December, the birth month of Ahn Eak Tai, commemorates the composer and often opens his unexplored music art pieces. 2008 concert made itself more meaningful as Hungarian and Spanish embassies were presented.

Ahn Eak Tai (1906.12.05~1965.09.16) is a conductor as well as a composer who composed Korean national anthem. He studied cello and musical composition in the U.S.A. and Europe. After graduation, he directed Vienna Phil, Berlin Phil, Rome symphony, Budapest symphony orchestra, etc. all around the world. His music was strongly influenced by his music teacher, Zoltan Kodaly (1882-1967), a famous Hungarian folk musician, when he studied in Liszt Music Academy in Hungary. He was married to a Spanish woman and lived in Spain for the rest of his life.

05/12/2008 ROK

Hungarian government commissioner Mr. Ábel Garamhegyi, Vice Minister of the Ministry for National Development and Economy visited Seoul on the 3rd and 4th of December 2008.

The Hungarian and South Korean delegates exchanged information on the two countries' economic situation and investment climate. Furthermore, around 35-40 South Korean companies participated in the Korea International Trade Association's investment seminar.

Mr. Ábel Garamhegyi had a working lunch at the Federation of Korean Industries where he met several heads of large companies such as Hankook Tire, Samsung SDI, Samsung Electronics and LG Mobile. The discussion was focused on the current difficulties facing international finance and economy and their effects on Hungary's position on foreign investment opportunities.

Mr. Ábel Garamhegyi has given an exclusive interview to Maeil Business Newspaper, the largest daily economics publication in South Korea. He has spoken in detail about Hungary's economic situation, the significance of the IMF package and the investment advantages in the Hungarian market.

08/12/2008 Seoul

Maeil Business Newspaper                                                                A10 International

Monday, December 8, 2008

Hungary’s IMF Bailout Different from Korea’s

Mr. Abel Garamhegyi, the Vice Minister of National Development and Economy of the Republic of Hungary

“$15.7 billion IMF bailout package for Hungary, approved on the 6th of last month(November) is different from the one provided to Korea 10 years ago. As a stand by credit against any urgent situation, Hungary hasn’t expended yet even a dollar out of it."

Mr. Abel Garamhegyi, the Vice Minister of National Development and Economy (39, picture) of the Republic of Hungary stated in his interview with Maeil Business Newspaper, that there is a misunderstanding among Koreans regarding the IMF injection to Hungary.

He said that the aim of Hungary’s seeking the bailout from the IMF was to acquire a ready capital, which is available any time, and restore the nation’s financial and economic reliability, deteriorated amidst current global financial crisis.

He pointed out that the decline of the growth rate was out of all relation to the current financial crisis, even if some stated that Hungary’s GDP growth has declined from 4.2% in 2006 to 3.4% in 2007 and forecast the economic downfall with further decline to 2.7% in 2008.

This suggests that the nation made a drastic cut of public employees in both central and local governments by 10% to resolve the country’s financial deficit, which amounted to 9.6% of GDP in 2007, and implemented a cut-back on government support in the medical and educational sectors, all of which has resulted in the natural decline of GDP. In view of such tightening efforts, the financial deficit for this year is forecast to fall dramatically to 3.2% of GDP.

However, Mr. Garamhegyi let it out frankly that Hungary wouldn’t be able to escape unaffected from the global financial turbulence. Particularly since western financial organizations such as Citi Bank and Deutsche Bank had a strong hold over Hungary’s financial sector, the financial crisis originated from the United States has spread deep into the East European region.

As such, he clarified that the leading Korean companies, who had invested in Hungary, as Samsung Electronics, Samsung SDI and Hankook Tire are also experiencing straitened circumstances in Korea so that he had had opportunity to deliberate on potential measures to overcome the crisis on his courtesy visit to their headquarters last week.

Reporter, Won-seop YOON

27/12/2008 Seoul

Concert of Seoul Kodaly Singers

The regular concert of Seoul Kodaly Singers of Korean Kodaly Society (http://www.kodaly.or.kr/) was held on December 27th, 2008, at 5 p.m., in Seoul Keumho Art Hall with the support of the Embassy of Hungary. The details can be seen by clicking the poster and the program.

The pictures of the concert were provided by the President of Kodaly Society, Mr. Cho Hong-ky.