On May 4, His Excellency Josef Müllner, the Austrian ambassador to Korea, gave a special lecture in the audio-visual room of Hengso Museum. The title of the lecture was “The Second Republic – the history of Austria after the Second World War and the relationship with the Republic of Korea.” Park Sang-hyuk, the chief of the Office of International Affairs, was moderator, and Dr. Lee Kyung-kyu interpreted the lecture.

Ambassador Müllner said, “Nowadays, environmental problems are getting more important. Recently, environmental problems are a political issue, but Europe, especially Austria, has been playing an important role in environmental problems since the late 1970s.” He also talked about the economy, saying, “Recently, Korea has adopted the strategy green growth through continuous growth of environmental technology, so I expect that Korea can cooperate with Austria in economic growth.”

The lecture continued about Austria’s relationship with Korea. The relationship between Austria and Korea started in 1892, and a formal diplomatic relationship was established in 1963. Austria and Korea have important relations in culture. He also said that Korea is the third biggest trade partner of Austria.

Questions and answers followed the lecture, and the questions were mostly about the environmental policy of Austria.