MoFAIC, Tower Hill, Freetown, 16th October 2023: The Republic of Korea will open its embassy in Sierra Leone in 2024. This was disclosed by the  Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to Sierra Leone, H. E KIM Young-chae during the donation of IT equipment to the Foreign Service Academy, on Monday, 16th October, 2023 at the Academy’s main Conference Hall, Tower Hill, Freetown.

The Ambassador stated that the reason behind the opening of the Embassy in Sierra Leone, the donation and visit of the Korean Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, Chung Hwang-Keun, is to strengthen bilateral relations between the two countries.

He thanked the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Timothy Musa Kabba for his relentless commitment to enhancing the bilateral and multilateral ties of the two countries.

The Special Envoy of the President of the Republic of Korea as well as the Korean Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, H.E. Mr Chung  Hwang-Keun in his statement said he was in the country to deepen and strengthen the continued bilateral relationship between the Republic of Korea and the Republic of Sierra Leone.

He said if the two countries deepened their bilateral ties in various areas including; food security, technical exchanges, human capital development, and economy, both countries would have a consolidated relationship to promote their south-south cooperation.

The Korean Minister said that, his country has established a good relationship with African countries and that Sierra Leone has expressed her interest in joining the initiative which he said, led to the signing of an MOU between the two countries.

Speaking from the multilateral angle, Minister Chung said that, Korea and Sierra Leone were elected into the Non-Permanent Seat at the UN Security Council for two years; both countries he said, would play a significant role in strengthening collaboration with the international community.

In his Keynote address, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Mr Timothy Musa Kabba thanked the Government and people of the Republic of Korea for the good gesture; stating that the donation was an indication of strong bilateral and multilateral relations between both countries.

He assured the Government and people of Korea that the equipment would be used for their rightful purposes so that Sierra Leone could not only provide training as required for the 21st-century diplomats but also help build the country’s civil and public services.

Speaking on the signing of the MOU in agriculture between the Republic of  Sierra Leone and the Republic of Korea, Minister Kabba said, the event has extended the scope of the bilateral relationship between the two sisterly countries beyond diplomacy to economic relations.

The Foreign Minister said Sierra Leone and Korea had a bitter past that has shaped them to put a premium on human capital development with special priority to education.

He said, that His Excellency President Bio understood that the most valuable resource of a nation is not the number of minerals it has but the capacity and capability of its citizens.

He concluded that, as new Non-Permanent Members of the UN Security Council, both countries are ready to rejuvenate their energies in the Security Council to ensure that attention is placed to the threats in the world.

According to the visiting delegation, the Minister Plenipotentiary, Mrs Isha Sillah in her capacity as Charge’d’ Affairs ad Intrim, initiated a meeting in the Sierra Leone Seoul Mission on the need to include Sierra Leone as beneficiary to the K- rice belt project.

The Embassy was very instrumental in coordinating this agricultural gesture among other gestures from the Korean Government.

The closing courtesy was done by Ambassador Sulay Daramy.

In attendance were the Minister of Communications, Technology and innovation, Ms Monoma Bah, Director General and Ambassador at-Large, Rev. Victoria Sulamani among others.

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