SEOUL, May 23 (Yonhap) — South Korea on Monday named a veteran Samsung salesman as ambassador to Myanmar in a clear move to secure new business opportunities abroad.
The Foreign Ministry said it appointed Yoo Jae-kyung as Seoul’s new top envoy to Naypyidaw in a minor reshuffle that also involved the appointment of a new ambassador to Pakistan.
Yoo is a veteran businessman with 30 years of sales experience under his belt. After joining Samsung Electro-Mechanics, a unit of South Korea’s top conglomerate Samsung Group, in 1985, he worked at the company’s overseas offices in Brazil and Germany before being appointed senior vice president in 2012. In 2014, he served as head of the global marketing unit.
“I understand that the government is expecting me to find many business opportunities, and Myanmar also has large expectations for greater economic cooperation,” Yoo said in a phone interview with Yonhap News Agency.
Myanmar has emerged as a land of opportunity following the recent launch of a democratically elected government and the partial lifting of U.S. sanctions against the country.
“Although there are huge expectations that the Burmese market is wide open, many entrepreneurs I’ve spoken to have said it’s not such an easy market,” Yoo said. “I’ll have to think hard as I look for markets with potential.”
The new ambassador will assume his post early next month.
Source: Yonhap News Agency
