South Korea will work with Nigeria on security in the Gulf of Guinea

South Korea has stated that she is willing to work with Nigeria to ensure the security of the Gulf of Guinea.

During a visit to Nigeria, Mr. Choi Jong Kun, the Republic of Korea’s 1st Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, expressed his country’s interest.

He also expressed his country’s willingness to assist future leaders in Nigeria with training through people-to-people exchanges.

Kun made the revelations during a press conference with a select group of journalists in Abuja.

He lamented the unpalatable media coverage of the activities in the Gulf of Guinea.

Kun, who was in Nigeria for a one-day official visit and met with government officials including Minister of Transportation Rotimi Amaechi and Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Ambassador Zubairu Dada, said Korea was interested in expanding bilateral relations with Nigeria.

In terms of the economy, he stated that Nigeria provides South Korea with a large market, as Nigeria accounts for more than half of South Korea’s foreign construction sales in Africa.

He also stated that Korea was interested in construction because Nigeria is heavily involved in infrastructure projects, and that Korean construction companies with good and reliable builders would be well-positioned to benefit.

Kun went on to say that the current volume of trade between the two countries, which is around 400 to 500 million dollars, needed to be increased.

He went on to say that the second area of concern for South Korea and Nigeria was transnational security, particularly in the Gulf of Guinea.

He stated that when it comes to the word “Nigeria” in Korea, Koreans have a very positive association with the country.

Kun revealed that Nigeria also meant a lot of mysterious things from Africa, but that Nigerians have recently been hijacking a lot of ships in the Gulf of Guinea.

He explained that the situation in Nigeria had received a lot of negative press coverage in the South Korean press.

“As a result, we want to work with the Nigerian government to secure our fishing industry in the Gulf of Guinea. That is exactly what we will do,” Kun stated.
The third area of cooperation, according to Kun, is cultural exchanges such as people-to-people exchanges, which will include financing and educational exchanges between Korean and Nigerian universities.

“Nigeria provides Korean and East Asian people with a very meaningful African culture. As a result, the two are now collaborating. “As a hi-tech nation, we are also willing to provide training assistance to future leaders of this country, that is, people-to-people exchanges,” Kun added.

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Concerning the COVID-19 pandemic in South Korea, Kun stated that the Republic of Korea had handled the situation successfully.
He claimed that, with a population of 53 million people, the country’s confirmed cases were small in comparison to other countries with similar populations.