Korea-Iran relations: 1974 and 2016

By Kim Ji-myung

One morning in 1974, I was sitting in an ante-chamber of the minister of health and social affairs. As a reporter covering the ministry, morning check-in at the minister's office was routine. At the time, labor affairs were also handled by the ministry, with the Office of Labor established later.

Although the minister had no appointment with a visitor scheduled for that morning, I found a tall foreign gentleman emerging from the minister's room. Such a foreign visitor to the health minister was a rare event, and his serious expression prompted my journalistic instinct that something quite important was happening. Even more, he was moving alone, without a colleague or accompanying staff.

I asked him to stay a few minutes for an interview, which he accepted.

That was the very first mention of Iran's plan to employ some 100,000 Korean workers in Iran for their 5th Economic Development Plan.

As I discovered, the man was the deputy minister of construction of Iran. He explained the grand national development plan of 1973-1978, which included a project to build 100,000 houses.

This article was my first scoop. In other words, I beat all other reporters to write this story, as it was too important to ignore. As a result, The Korea Times awarded me a "Scoop Prize."

In short, Iran's social overhead capital ― roads, ports and buildings ― needed enormous improvement. There was a big demand for projects and manpower. There was sufficient oil money coming in from high oil prices. Iran wanted to invite foreign firms, expertise and people.

That morning, the Iranian deputy minister had met the Korean minister in charge of labor affairs to see how many workers the Korean government could send to Iran.

I am sure the scale of figures and amount of budget envisioned by the Iranian plans must have surprised the Korean minister at the least, or made him suspicious of the feasibility of the plans.

Another reporter expressed deep doubt about the plan, pointing out that the number of workers requested came to more than the population of the entire Korean city of Gangneung, which had 90,000 citizens at the time. It was absolutely unimaginable to see so many workers going abroad.

Korea's construction work abroad began in 1966, with an $11,000 project in Asia. Only in 1973 did the first project in the Middle East begin, worth $24,000. The Iranian proposal was not for construction contracts but for the import of manpower. By all standards, the number was staggering.

I was a cub reporter and very conservative, unlike many other reporters, who often exaggerate the figures to catch readers' eyes by making the stories "sexy." Therefore, I discounted the figure by 10 percent to be safe.

The first batch of 1,300 Korean trailer-truck drivers went to Iran in 1975. They were paid more than others from Southeast Asia for their higher educational backgrounds and reliability.

Today, after more than three decades of economic sanctions, Iran is back on the world economic stage.

For me, it is astonishing to hear exactly the same statements about Iran after all these years: A country now with a population of more than 80 million with purchasing power, and having among the world's biggest oil deposits, has dilapidated basic infrastructure for economic development. Iran has to invite foreign firms to build roads and houses, to build oil tankers, refinery plants and railroads.

Our attention seems to focus mainly on rosy economic opportunities of the future, especially with the many memorandums of understanding (MOUs) signed during the recent presidential visit to Tehran.

The construction industry seems to harbor high hopes on the grounds of the positive and favorable reputation of Korean companies and workers among Iranians.

However, the history of Korean activities abroad over the past 50 years tells us that big opportunities usually are accompanied by unexpected challenges.

If Korea supplied labor in civil engineering and construction in its first cooperation with Iran in the 1970s and 1980s, the recent "Second Middle East Boom," as termed by the Korean press, is raising expectations to include high-end, high value-added industries such as plant, IT, medical and finance.

Normalization of Iran's relations with the outside world came because Tehran fulfilled its obligations, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

But apart from the nuclear issue, there was the successful negotiation with the United States regarding the American hostages. Not much report was made in Korea on the five Americans, who included Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian. Iran released those hostages hours before the nuclear accord was implemented.

Some try to find extra significance in the fact President Park Geun-hye was the first Korean head of state to visit Iran since bilateral diplomatic ties were established in 1962.

On every state visit by President Park, the press pays attention, both favorable and critical, to her style of clothing. This time, some dubbed her use of a veil in Iran as "cultural diplomacy," possible because she is a female president.

The world is now very different from the past. The ideology-based Cold War era may have gone, but there are still conflicts among people and cultures.

Already in the 1970s, some experts had pointed out that there was a big missing part in Korea's relationship with the Middle East. In 2006, the governments and economic communities of Arabic countries started the Korea-Arab Society to enhance cultural understanding and cooperation among the two areas. Iran is not a member of the 22-state society.

Much homework remains to be done to develop Korea-Iran relationships into an authentic friendship of mutual benefit and profound understanding.

The writer is the chairwoman of the Korea Heritage Education Institute (K*Heritage). Her email address is Heritagekorea21@gmail.com.