Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen at the luncheon hosted by the President of the Republic of Korea in Seoul

(Check against delivery)

Your Excellency, President Lee Myong-bak

Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Mr. President,

May I on behalf of myself and my delegation express our gratitude to you for receiving us here in Seoul.

This is the first prime ministerial visit from Finland to the Republic of Korea. I hope that this visit further strengthens the good relations between our two countries.

The economic exchanges between Finland and the Republic of Korea have more than doubled during the last four years. Overall trade in both ways has shown remarkable growth. I would like to express my hope that now, with the newly opened direct flight route between Helsinki and Seoul, the quickest connection between Europe and Eastern Asia, this trend will continue and even accelerate.

Of course, I am happy that Finland is already known for Santa Claus, as well as Nokia and Sibelius, and they are certainly Finnish features we are proud of. We will now in a way be closer to each other so that it will be possible for Koreans to come and meet Santa Claus in person and see also other attractions that we can offer. The same goes for Finns and Korea.

Indeed, Finns originally came from Central Asia, a long time ago. No one knows for sure how the language actually came about; there is a close relation, Estonian, a more distant relation, Hungarian, and even some small even more distant relations. And there are theories, quite respectable ones, that Finnish is related to Turkish, Basque or even the Gaelic language, probably because they are also languages whose origin is not known for certain. Why not also Korean which sounds similar to Finnish and has been mentioned as a relation, as has been Japanese?

In fact, there has from early on been considerable interest in Finland in the Korean language. One of the first English grammars of the Korean language was published in 1932 by a Finnish ambassador who was also a specialist in Oriental languages.

Even if we are not sure of the relationship between our languages, we know, as you said, Mr President, that both of our countries have a strong national identity and unique culture. We have both experienced a heavy hand of history. And perhaps those things make for one certain relationship: friendship between our countries.

Tomorrow, I will continue my own exploration of Korea: after a visit to the demilitarised zone, I will have the opportunity to see modern shipyards, then monuments of the Shilla dynasty - the dynamism of present-day Korea as well as its long and impressive past.

Mr. President,

Once more my sincere thanks go to you and your countrymen for providing me and my delegation this memorable visit to the Republic of Korea.