The Reopening of Korea from one of Korea’s most proactive residents.

Alex talks reopening with Kate Kalinova, Project Manager at AustCham Korea, Director and Korea Correspondent for Asia Options and perhaps the busiest person in South Korea right now.

Kate is the ideal person to talk about the reopening of Korea. As Korea progresses with its reopening, Kate has been attending, Defense Expos, Australia-Korea 60th year anniversary functions and perhaps most passionately the Seoul International Café Show.

Kate and Alex deep dive into the Australian Coffee culture, at last count Australians drink approximately two and a half times the amount of coffee that Koreans drink. At the Seoul International Café Show, you can sense the difference in Australian coffee styles. Different blends, roasting methods, and most of all different coffee concoctions. The flat white reigns supreme in Australia but is very hard to come by in Korea.

On a more serious note, Alex and Kate discuss the current supply chain security issues affecting Korea now. For many people, it seems almost unbelievable that a country could be suffering from a urea shortage. However, that’s exactly what is happening, due to cutbacks in Chinese supply, Korean farmers and diesel operators are facing severe shortages. As part of the emergency response, the Korean government is flying in 20,000 liters liquid urea from Australia in a C130 Hercules.

On a broader front, the Australian-Korean economic partnership has taken another step with the setting up of the Australia Korea Low and Zero Emissions Technology Partnership. In the wake of COP26 this entity is designed to enable technology exchanges in the areas of hydrogen and other technologies to accelerate both country’s move to a low and then zero carbon economy.

Kate also lets us know about korea.net a website hosted by the Korean Ministry of Culture Sport and Tourism. They are currently recruiting volunteer reporters to showcase various aspects of Korean culture to the world. Drop them a line if you are interested.

Kate describes the joy she has diving into Korean culture and discovering unexpected treasures like Korea’s oldest bakery, or a hidden garden.

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Published On: November 10, 2021 / Categories: koreabizcast /