Irish ambassador to Korea talks trade, beef ahead of St. Patrick's Day festivities

Ambassador of Ireland to Korea Michelle Winthrop speaks during an interview with the Korea JoongAng Daily at the embassy building in Jongno District, central Seoul, on March 13. [PARK SANG-MOON]

 
St. Patrick’s Day, which falls on Monday, will be marked by the Irish Embassy with a series of events, which will not only be a celebration for Ireland but also an opportunity to further highlight Korea-Ireland relations, Ireland's top diplomat to Seoul said in a recent interview.
 
“It is always a very busy time for us but it’s a really important time of the year for Ireland and for Irish embassies abroad,” said Michelle Winthrop, Ambassador of Ireland to Korea, during an interview with the Korea JoongAng Daily at the embassy in Jongno District, central Seoul, on Thursday. “It is a great opportunity to focus everyone’s attention on Ireland and restate our bilateral ties with the host country, in this case, Korea.”
 
A business networking event at the Mondrian Hotel, a six-hour long music festival at the Shindorim D-Cube complex, an Irish-themed party in Itaewon and traditional food festivals are just some of the events lined up for this year’s St. Patrick’s Day in Korea leading up to and on Monday. Minister of State at the Department of Children, Equality, Disability Hildegarde Naughton is also paying a visit on from March 19 for the celebrations.
 
St. Patrick's Day is a religious and cultural holiday held on March 17 annually, on the anniversary of the death of St. Patrick, the foremost patron saint of Ireland, and is celebrated in the country and by Irish communities around the world.
 

Related Article

• Korea, Ireland fortify partnership on 40th anniversary

• Ireland eyes closer ties to Korean universities as it woos international students

• Ireland looks to expand trade with Korea in updated strategy

• President Yoon Suk Yeol meets Irish PM for bilateral summit

 
Korea and Ireland marked 40 years of diplomatic relations in 2023, with the then-Taoiseach Leo Varadkar paying a state visit and making a trip to the demilitarized zone at the time. Winthrop reflected on the outcomes of economic proposals made during the 40-year anniversary events, the recently-granted access of Irish beef into the Korean market and how Korea and Ireland could further collaborate on multilateral issues such as climate change and global security.
 
The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.
 

Ambassador of Ireland to Korea Michelle Winthrop poses for a photo during an interview with the Korea JoongAng Daily at the embassy building in Jongno District, central Seoul, on March 13. [PARK SANG-MOON]

 
Q: As we mark 42 years of diplomatic relations between Ireland and Korea, what initiatives or events are planned to celebrate this milestone, and how do you envision the future trajectory of our bilateral relations?


A: The big milestone really was the 40-year anniversary and that was when our then-Taoiseach came to Korea, leading a delegation of three ministers, business leaders and academics. Things are going from strength to strength in terms of our relationship with Korea — trade continues to grow, education exchanges continue to grow and people-to-people ties, which is very important, are growing, too. Korea and Ireland are very like-minded and share a lot of values and priorities, so at a political level, I think we are tighter than ever as partners, despite the political situation in Korea.
 
 
In November 2023, Korea proposed establishing a Trade and Investment Promotion Framework (TIPF) with Ireland to diversify areas of cooperation, including supply chains and the digital and biotechnology sectors. Could you elaborate on the current status of this proposal and the potential benefits it holds for both nations?


The idea came up and was suggested to our then-Trade Minister Simon Coveney. We were very enthusiastic and still are enthusiastic, and we got to a place where we were exchanging texts for a proposed memorandum of understanding (MOU). Some situations changed and we had a general election in Ireland and a change of government, and Korea has had some political challenges meanwhile. So I think we need to come back to that conversation when the dust settles a little.
 
But I think it’s worth saying that when it comes to international trade, there is what we call an EU competence. within the European Union member states, there are some things that we delegate up to the European Union as a team and international trade is one of those. So people often ask me, does Ireland have a free trade agreement with Korea? No, we don't, because the EU has one and we are a member of that.
 
So I think to some extent there are limitations to what fundamental agreements we can reach on bilateral trade with Korea. But I think there have been some developments in the meantime that are even more helpful. However, in the last week, the European Union has agreed a digital trade agreement with Korea. And given that a huge amount of Ireland's trade with Korea is in services and is in the digital sphere, I think that will be really helpful for us. So when we revisit that conversation about the trade and investment agreement, we need to take account of that and look at the benefits that will come from that on investment.
 
 
Irish beef has been granted access into the Korean market last year, but there has been some coverage in domestic media saying that Irish beef is not as popular as other types of beef. What is Ireland doing to try to get more Korean consumers to consume Irish beef and what are the benefits for both countries with this deal?


I think it's important to state from the outset that Irish beef is not trying to occupy the same segment of the market as for example, hanwoo beef. Hanwoo beef is very specific, it's very unique and I understand, I think being here you understand why it's so popular in Korea and Irish beef is fundamentally different. It's leaner, it's got a richer taste and so on. To be honest the main focus of our beef market access push was in the processed foods sector anyway. Of course we want Korean consumers to consume Irish beef and to love it but to some extent they will be inadvertently through processed food that they buy and it's those processors really that we're targeting our marketing on.
 
We're also very committed to a slightly more meaningful relationship with Korea on sustainable food systems not just selling beef, and we are really into the whole sustainable food systems movement. We want to understand more about the smart farming that Korea does but we also have really sophisticated cattle breeding programs and a really successful organic certification program that farmers sign up to and then they get dedicated supports. So there's a lot of really cool conversations that we want to see happen and that, I think, adds to the richness of the relationship within which we sell beef.
 
 
Both Ireland and Korea have shown a commitment to multilateralism and addressing global challenges. How do you envision the two countries collaborating on issues such as climate change, global security and sustainable development?


Korea and Ireland have a lot of areas where we collaborate closely and indeed we probably could do more. In no particular order, Korea has a very strong official development assistance (ODA) program which is growing, and Ireland has a similar commitment to ODA — even in our darkest days economically we have never cut our ODA. I think we could do more on being super strategic about where we deploy those resources.
 
For example, I know that the humanitarian world — the humanitarian system is really in bad shape and really struggling. Global health is another area where Korea is very committed and Ireland's very committed. So we should actually be joining forces to strategically plan together on climate action. The whole sphere of digital governance and protecting the digital space, AI norms and standards and cybersecurity is one where I think we should be doing more, absolutely.

BY LIM JEONG-WON [lim.jeongwon@joongang.co.kr]