Zhang Qian

Shenzhen is not a Chinese city, according to Park Eun-kyun.

“Shenzhen is more like a rising international metropolis, like New York or Tokyo. It’s so different from historical cities like Beijing and Shanghai,” said Park.

Park is the first director of the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) in Shenzhen. The agency’s 124 divisions, 19 in China alone, are supported by the South Korean Government and promote international trade with Korean corporations.

Park, a South Korean man in his late 30s, is at a new beginning in his career, working for KOTRA as the first Shenzhen director.

Almost half of the employees in Shenzhen’s KOTRA office are Koreans and the Chinese staff members are required to speak Korean and have experience living in South Korea.

After living in China for more than a decade, Park’s Chinese is excellent, turning to a translator only twice during the interview. He also speaks English and Cantonese.

Park moved to Shenzhen in September last year to prepare for the opening of KOTRA’s Shenzhen branch. Park worked in KOTRA in Hong Kong for three years and in KOTRA’s headquarters in Beijing for two years.

The establishment of diplomatic relations between South Korea and China in 1992 prompted Park to attend a top foreign-language school in Seoul. He began to learn Chinese when he attended university.

Shenzhen has become a hot market for South Korean businesses as more Shenzhen companies purchase Korean products. There are over 1,000 South Korean enterprises in Shenzhen, and LG and Samsung have divisions in Futian District, according to Park.

Shenzhen’s KOTRA is especially focused on stimulating cooperation in the IT industry, the medical equipment industry and the service industry. Park said Shenzhen’s maker community is the city’s key advantage.

“Shenzhen has a unique ecology of hardware because there is Hua-qiangbei and many incubators that are supported by the government and big companies.”

Park said several makers’ team and startups from South Korea have already acquired large investments from Shenzhen corporations.

A Korean team working on a new type of battery got 10 million yuan (US$1.57 million) in investment from a Shenzhen group.

Park’s goal is to create a bridge between Shenzhen and South Korean businesses.

“People say that this year is the peak year of the Sino-South Korean relationship and I agree with that,” said Park.

By organizing fairs and forums, Park is encouraging Chinese and Korean companies to work together.

The Shenzhen branch’s first event was a forum called Corporation Social Responsibility (CSR), in February this year when companies from both countries discussed social responsibility.

The agency also organized the China Mobile Vision forum, where 30 Korean telecommunication corporations, including Samsung and LG, met with top Shenzhen-based mobile phone companies, like ZTE.

“Our agency is still promoting itself. I hope Shenzhen enterprises and residents will get to know us better and we will also try harder to connect local companies with Korean corporations,” said Park.