Korea- Ireland Connections

Last night I was at Trinity College for a talk on Korea-Ireland contacts given by the 2009-13 Irish Ambassador to Korea, Eamonn McKee. (OK, it is not China, but near enough.)

Most of the audience were young Koreans because there is a ‘Working Holiday Program’ by which 400 young Koreans a year can come to Ireland to explore, study and work.

Ambassador McKee traced Irish contacts with Korea going back to the 1800s which took a big leap forward with the arrival of the Columban Fathers (and, later, the Sisters) in 1938.

Talking about today’s problems, he mentioned the number of suicides among young people — many of them are influenced by Western values through the media in their school years but have to face up to the realities of Confucian values later in their lives.