By Salman Siddiqui/Staff Reporter
Out of the 2,000 South Korean expats in Qatar, more than a 1,000 work for Qatar Airways, the Korean ambassador told Gulf Times.
Also, almost all of the 1,000 who work at the Qatar Airways are women, Ambassador Keejong Chung added.
Many Korean girls prefer working at Qatar Airways not only because it is considered one of the the world’s best airlines, but also because their benefits include free fully furnished accommodation, a tax-free salary, medical and life insurance, and travel concessions.
The Korean envoy said that he was optimistic that the highly trained and educated people from his country would find more job opportunities in Qatar’s airline industry.
Apart from the aviation industry, the small Korean community in Qatar is also involved in construction projects. In fact, he informed that some Korean companies would soon join the multi-billion dollar Doha Metro project.
Regarding the popularity of Korean products in Qatar, the ambassador said that he was encouraged to see the progress made by Samsung and LG in the electronics market segment not only in this country, but world over.
While traditionally many people in the GCC region prefer Japanese cars, Chung said that he was seeing an increase in market share of Korean brands such as Kia and Hyundai in Qatar.
“I’m sure that in the future, people will prefer Korean brands over others because of their superior quality and technology,” he said.
Korea and Qatar have very old diplomatic relations; and the 40th anniversary of the opening embassy in Qatar is due in 2014.
“Korea and Qatar enjoy a profound and very positive partnership which is based on excellent political and economic relations and it will extend to academic and cultural areas that are likely to get closer and stronger.”
In the international arena, Korean government supports Qatar’s diplomatic efforts for peace-making in the Middle East and the World.
Also, Korea imports 22% of its LNG from Qatar annually and a number of Korean companies participate in Qatar’s infrastructure development projects.
