South Korea is now the world’s 12th largest trading nation, with a population of around 45 million. Strong growth in the past few years has created an affluent advanced society.

“Christchurch is in a strong position to develop closer links with Korea. The city has a vibrant sister-city relationship with Songpa-gu in Seoul and a strong Korean community. There are important education and tourism connections. These should expand when Korea’s second airline, Asiana, begins services to New Zealand in October. Similar benefits are there for all of Canterbury to enjoy. It’s been great to see Christchurch Mayor Garry Moore in Seoul, working on the Songpa-gu sister city relationship and making contact with people involved in economic and other links with Christchurch. This is a good way to keep Christchurch on the map for Koreans. It’s important to keep these personal top-level connections up,” David Taylor says.

Canterbury has excellent business links with Korea which can be expanded. In the education field, Canterbury and Lincoln Universities have good connections, as do many secondary schools and language institutes.

Linden Leaves cosmetics and Bowrons sheepskins are valuable exports. Deer velvet, electronics and computer software are among the other items being sold by Christchurch firms to Korea each year.

Tourism is another important connection with many of the 110,000 Koreans visiting NZ each year coming to Canterbury for activities like whale watching, skiing and golf.