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Kim Hong Hee,
Commissioner General
Korea Coast Guard
There is a saying that "a friend in need is a friend indeed."
This year marks 70th anniversary of the Korean war.
During the Korean war, Ecuador generously provided supplies including rice and medicine to Koreans suffering from the war, rather than turing a blind eye to them. The heartwarming gesture sent by the distant country around 17,000km away from Korea served as a ray of hope for many Koreans. Ecuador was also the first country to import 6 Hyundai Pony cars from the South Korean manufacture Hyundai Motor in 1976 when Korea was pushing for industrial growth.
I believe that Korea was able to achieve the "Miracle of the Han River" thanks to the seeds of compassion that Korea received during difficult times.
The Galapagos islands and the surrounding waters, a UNESCO World Heritage site, are home to some of the world’s rarest animals and plant species with the extreme isolation of the islands. Unfortunately, however, their fishery resources are being threatened by illegal foreign fishing vessels. Against this backdrop, Ecuador has been in dire need of patrol vessels to protect its precious marine environment.
On May 7, 2019, Prime Minister of South Korea paid a visit to Ecuador in order to sign a Memorandum of Agreement on bilateral cooperation between the two countries. On the sideline of the visit, the issue of the donation of the decommissioned patrol vessels by the Korea Coast Guard (KCG) was also discussed. At that time, Rear Admiral Darwin Jarrin, Commander General of the Ecuadorian Navy, requested KCG to help with the lack of patrol vessels. Korea took the opportunity to finally repay the generosity of Ecuador based on the friendship and trust with Ecuador that have been built over the past 70 years. KCG promised that it would hand over 2 out of 5 retired vessels, which were to be retired in 2019, to Ecuador at no cost.
However, amid the unanticipated COVID-19 pandemic, the process had been faced with a lot of challenges. Due to the pandemic, the Ecuadorian coast guard officers were not able to visit Korea to receive training and education on the operation of the vessels. Initially, the Ecuadorian Navy General Commander was also scheduled to visit Korea to sign a Donation Agreement with KCG, but the visit had to be cancelled. But, as a saying goes that "where there is a will, there is a way", we solved the problems by replacing the signing of the agreement with the exchange of international mail and filming the training content for Ecuadorian officers to be delivered to Ecuador via Cap. Ricardo at the Ecuadorian Embassy in Korea.
On November 13, 2020, a 30,000t-class carrier ship carrying the two vessels sailed out from the Masan Port of South Korea to Ecuador. Previously, the vessels 302 and 303 had successfully completed the missions of protecting the marine resources and safeguarding the maritime sovereignty surrounding the Jeju island, South Korea. They will be once again serving the cause after arriving at the Guayaquil Port of Ecuador.
I hope that this transfer of the retired KCG vessels would further strengthen the diplomatic relations between Korea and Ecuador and be accepted as a symbol of friendship and hope by the people of Ecuador.
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