The beginnings of Swiss business in Korea - 50 Years Switzerland

On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Switzerland and Korea, it is my privilege to sharewith you some of my experiences related to Switzerland over the past 40 years.The beginnings of Swiss business in KoreaKorea launched a series of five-year economic development plans in the early 1960s. The textile industry was selected asone of the first strategic industries as it could employ abundant unutilized semi-skilled labor at that time. Textile processingrequires a large quantity of chemicals, including pigments, dyestuff, surfactants, etc. Switzerland emerged as a major sourceof such chemicals starting in the 1960s. As industrialization took root, pharmaceuticals and machineries were added to theimports. Prominent Swiss companies such as Sandoz, Ciba-Geigy and Roche started to open offices in Korea, supplyingboth chemicals and pharmaceuticals. Subsequently, Brown Boveri (later ABB) made investments in a joint venture withDaewoo Group and Nestlé with Korea Agriculture Cooperative, a half government organization.Upon completing my MBA degree in New York, I was invited to join Sandoz in 1970 to start its pharmaceutical business inKorea. I was perhaps the first Korean to be employed by a major Swiss company at that time. With initially a dozen salesmen,I explored and developed the Korean market for Sandoz Pharmaceuticals for over 10 years. In 1984, I had the pleasure ofjoining the International Institute for Management Development (IMD; later IMEDE) executive program. I also started the localIMD Alumni Association, which I headed for 20 years.51Another important event was launching the Korea-Swiss (Friendship) Association. On a cold and snowy day in December inthe late 1970s, friends of Switzerland were invited to a Christmas event by the Swiss Delegation of the NNSC in Panmunjeom.A dozen of us went to Imjingak, but unfortunately, because of the snow, the program was aborted. All those, who went toImjingak spontaneously, agreed to form an official association under the name of Korea-Swiss (Friendship) Association.The key members were Dr. Hanbeen Lee, former deputy prime minister of the Economic Planning Board and first Koreanambassador to Switzerland; Mr. Byung-Kyu Chun, former finance minister and a former Ambassador to Switzerland; Dr.Ilyoung Chung, former deputy foreign minister and also a former ambassador to the country; Dr. Jung-yul Yoo, founder ofNestlé Korea; Dr. Soochul Oe, a dentist who practiced in Berne; Dr. Heechun Park, recipient of a Ph.D from ETH Zurichand myself. With about 60 members, the association was officially registered with the Foreign Ministry. The first head of theassociation was Mr. Byung-Kyu Chun, followed by Dr. Ilyoung Chung and Dr. Jung-yul Yoo. I served as the fourth presidentuntil it became dormant when the Swiss-Korea Business Council (SKBC) was established in 1993.52Song-hyon Jang, Honorary Chairman of the Swiss-Korean Business CouncilAfter serving as the first Korean Ambassador to Switzerland, Dr. Hanbeen Lee published “The Way for a Small Country toProsper”, a book emphasizing that Korea has to emulate the success of Switzerland. It was an inspiration for many Koreanleaders and became a bestseller in the 1960s.The first exposure of Switzerland in a major way to the Korean public and industries was the Swiss industrial exposition“SwissKor80” held at COEX in collaboration with Maeil Economic Daily from May 31 to June 8, 1980. All the major Swisscompanies were represented and many Swiss business leaders visited Korea, including Dr. Yves Dunant, chairman ofSandoz Ltd.My association with Switzerland - either in the area of development of Swiss products in the Korean market or in promotingpeople-to-people ties between our two countries - has been a truly rewarding and enriching experience for me. I look forwardto seeing further development of the friendly and mutually beneficial relations between our two small but great nations for thenext 50 years to come.