South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol to visit Singapore from Oct 7 to 9

SINGAPORE: South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol is set to visit Singapore next week, where he will meet the city-state’s leaders and discuss ways to enhance bilateral ties between both nations, said a Singapore Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson on Thursday (Oct 3).
The trip from Oct 7 to 9 comes as the two countries celebrate 50 years of diplomatic relations next year. 
Mr Yoon will be in Singapore at the invitation of President Tharman Shanmugaratnam.
According to Yonhap news agency, Mr Yoon will visit the Philippines before travelling to Singapore. He will also hold talks with Prime Minister Lawrence Wong and deliver an address on Seoul’s unification vision.
He will then head to Laos for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit.
On Wednesday, CNA spoke to South Korean Ambassador to Singapore Hong Jin-wook, who said the embassy is preparing “various kinds of cultural projects” for the anniversary of bilateral relations.
These include a Korean food workshop, as well as friendly football matches and a cultural forum.
In July, the embassy conducted its first public perception survey on South Korea involving 1,000 Singaporeans.
It aimed to gather insights to come up with public diplomacy initiatives for both countries’ benefit, among other objectives.
According to the survey results, two in three Singaporeans – or 66 per cent – have a positive perception of South Korea, predominantly driven by the Korean wave or “hallyu”. About 30 per cent expressed neutral views.
Among those familiar with Korean culture, the top three aspects that respondents were most interested in were Korean films, cuisine and music/dance.
The survey, carried out online by Mediacorp’s Media Research Consultants, also spelt out the top Koreans who have contributed to the positive perception of the country. 
Footballer Son Heung-min, who plays for English Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur, topped the list, followed by boyband BTS. Former footballer Park Ji-sung came third, just ahead of girl group Blackpink.
However, respondents indicated relatively low awareness of the economy, sports and other aspects of South Korea.
A majority also said that Singapore and South Korea cultures were different in most areas such as traditional arts, cuisine and music.
The embassy said this suggests there is room for encouraging mutual interest in each other’s cultures and increasing exchanges.
Nearly 8 in 10 respondents said both countries maintain a strong relationship. They also expressed hopes for more cooperation in areas such as climate change, healthcare and the economy.
During Wednesday’s interview, Ambassador Hong said that while the results were “very positive”, there are a “couple of points to pay more attention to”.
“Hallyu is a good thing – it’s definitely a welcoming factor for our bilateral relations. But culture is culture. I think hallyu is also one of the cultural trends which can come to us all of a sudden, but it can disappear all of a sudden,” he added.
“For more sustainable and durable bilateral partnership, it would be better to broaden our scope of exchanges between our two people beyond the level of hallyu, which can encompass areas like the economy, security, people-to-people exchanges and many other things.”
He also said that South Korea is keen on offering Korean language classes as an option for Singaporean secondary school students.
The embassy’s survey indicated that 59 per cent of respondents showed interest in learning Korean, with the top motivations being understanding Korean music and dramas, as well as being able to communicate better with Koreans.
Among those interested or currently learning Korean, 6 per cent said they would enrol themselves or their children in Korean language courses if schools or institutions offered it in their curriculum.
Ambassador Hong said more details on the upcoming cultural projects will be shared in the coming weeks.
He noted: “During the past 50 years, both Singapore and South Korea were able to get out of poverty to grow into one of the super economic powers in our regions, respectively.
“I’m sure during the process, we have been nicely collaborating with each other.”