BKBF Newsletter - October 2021 | Belgian Korean Business Forum

Dear BKBF Friends,

We’re hoping everyone is doing well and has had the chance to refresh during the summer and Chuseok week!!! Due to Seoul’s social distancing measure, this year again we were not able to organize the traditional Welcome BBQ in collaboration with our embassy. It is certainly much harder for us to connect with everyone and especially with newcomers. With this extended message we wanted to share with you a few updates.

First of all, we wanted to extend our warm welcome to our new ambassador, H.E. François Bontemps. We’ve had the chance to have a first contact with him and together are closely monitoring how the covid measures over the next few weeks in order to organize an event as soon as possible.

A Message from the Ambassador
“With my wife, I am pleased to return, in a spirit of service, to Korea, a country we love, to broaden and deepen the partnership between our two countries. Let us try to stay together in an adventure of friendship that draws its source from a long history and solid foundations. For our part, we will strive to be strong and united enough to navigate through crises, address common challenges and correct our own mistakes; to be sharp and smart enough to identify and develop shared opportunities. Hoping to meet you personally along the way, I thank you in advance for your support and wish you all the best.”
François Bontemps, September 2021

If you are new to South Korea and our BKBF community, please reach out to us either via email to committee@bkbfseoul.com or via our facebook page @bkbfseoul ! If you do so we’ll have a beer for you for our next event, so don’t be shy ! Importantly, if you are a Belgian citizen, do not forget to register with our Embassy, this can be done easily over email.

New BKBF Committee Members!

We are also very happy to announce and welcome Marc Breynart and Michael van Muelken into the BKBF Committee. Together with you, our goal is to continue to create social opportunities for gathering Belgian and Korean friends in Korea and make our small community as dynamic as we possibly can through our events and online means.

“Thank you for the opportunity to join your group. I hope to meet each and every one of you in the upcoming months.”

“It is a great honor for me to join the BKBF in its efforts to strengthen the Belgian-Korean relationship and support Belgian nationals and businesses here, in South Korea. I will do my best, as part of the BKBF committee, to meet your expectations and bring something fresh, yet positive, to the table.”

Welcome Back, Eva!

Last but certainly not least on the welcome topic, we wanted to extend our warm welcome back message for Eva Morre. And congratulations Eva for your newborn. We can’t wait to meet your little one for Sinterklaas / Saint Nicolas.

Upcoming Activities and Events

At the moment of writing of this newsletter, only private gatherings of up to 6 (4 of which must be fully vaccinated) are permitted in Seoul. While we are not yet in a position to regroup all together, there are great activities that you can join during October !

The Belgian Festival will be held from October 21-24th
Regitration details : https://www.belgiumfestival.com/
Location : 서울특별시 종로구 인사동 133

The Belgium Festival is the official headline for the so-called Belgian days that aim to celebrate the 120 years of diplomatic relations between Korea and Belgium. While Belgium is certainly known for its waffles, Belgian culture is rich in many other categories. The Belgium Festival is a special invitation to get a holistic taste of little Belgium: From more innovative beers to art, gastronomy, comics, fashion, lifestyle and music, the Belgium Festival will host notable artists, chef and personalities who will provide the larger Korean public with the opportunity to experience their works and talent for a period of 4 days in the cultural space KOTE located in the Jongro district, Seoul.

Due to the coronavirus situation and in order to respect all the hygienic measures in place (4단계), the Belgium Festival will be limited to these 3 activities:

-LOUD BRUSSELS: An exhibition highlighting the artworks of 6 selected Brussels-bases artists from October 21 to November 14

-In collaboration with KOTE Restaurant, several Belgian dishes will be introduced by the 2 Michelin stars Chef Sang Hoon Degeimbre from October 21 to October 24

-In collaboration with KOTE Cafe, real Belgian hot chocolate will be introduced by Pierre Marcolini; as well as a great selection of Belgian beers from October 21 to October 24.

Visitors will also be able to admire the walls of the entrance alley which will be painted by the Belgian urban artist Denis Meyers before the 21st, as well as check objects and posters made of Belgian comics characters and lifestyle brands.

These activities will be accessible to visitors by reservation-only, and visitors will be required to stay seated. QR code, temperature check, and vaccine certificate will be checked at the main entrance as well as in the restaurant and the cafe. A counting system will be installed at the main entrance to ensure that the number of visitors does not exceed the number of available seats. Wearing a mask is required. as well as check objects and posters made of Belgian comics characters and lifestyle brands.

The reservation and payment of 10,000 krw provides you access to the sample tasting of 5 kinds of beer.

You can also follow the festival news here : https://www.facebook.com/belgiumfestivalinkorea

Please also have a look into the other current and upcoming events celebrating 120 years of diplomatic relations between Korea and Belgium on this page : https://koreabelgium120.com/ev/events/

Frite Artois Pop Up by Stella Artois
now open until Sunday, November 7th

Experience Authentic Belgian Frites in Seoul at the fabulous Frites Artois pop up in Hannam ! It is located at 258, Itaewon-ro, Hannam-dong (within a 6-minute walk from Exit 1 of Hangangjin Station on Line 6). We had a chance to taste the Carbonade Flamande and were very impressed. The Frites come with excellent sauces and, of course, the Stella beer was perfect. Given the nature of the pop up, take note of that minimum age of the venue is 19 year old. We’re in touch with the team at Frite Artois and (finger crossed) if the upcoming Covid new measure allow us we’ll make sure to organize a regroup.

Support Zara Rutherford Flying Solo Around the World
In August 2021, Zara (19 year old, Belgian and British dual national) left Belgium heading West, flying solo around the world flying in a very small plane. If she succeeds, she will be the youngest woman ever to fly solo around the world as well as the youngest person to fly solo around the world in a microlight.

We’re in touch with Zara’s team, she should be in Seoul early next week. A media gathering and possibly a virtual fan meet-up is being organized. More on Zara soon, meantime follow and support Zara ! Check out https://flyzolo.com/ and follow her amazing adventure !

Saint Nicholas in Seoul !

Rumors are going strong that HE will be travelling to Seoul ! Meet the Saint is tentatively set for the Sunday, 5th December 2021.

Venue and details will be worked out in accordance of the pre-registration interrest and also how the covid-19 regulations.

To help us with the preparations, please pre-register your interest with the following form
(click here)

BKBF Collaborations news and updates

ECCK Updates

During the last ECCK Advisory Board meeting, together with Christoph Heider, President of the European Chamber of Commerce in Korea, the ECCK team and other European chambers representative, a letter was developed and co-signed by the ECCK with all chambers highlighting the difficulties for forgeign residents with common suggestion on the hot topics topics of Re-entry Application for Foreign Residents in Korea / Acceptance of Overseas, Vaccination Certificates and Exemption from Quarantine for Fully Vaccinated People to the Commissioner of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (ref ECCK website). Those topics are close to the heart of every resident or short term visitor and hope that we will see progress in those areas. Thanks to those collective efforts, it was recently announced that People fully vaccinated abroad will be able to prove vaccination status in Korea. Please refer to the Belgian Embassy communication of October 8th titled : “First step towards mutual recognition of vaccinations Europe” for the concrete modality of those measures.

MoU between InterAsia Belgium and Luxembourg Chambers of Commerce (BLCCs)

With the Covid lockdown, all of Chambers in Asia have been essentially in the same situation with travel limited, difficulties to do business and reach customers, members, etc… On the positive side though, all of us have now learned new online means of communication. This gave the idea to several Belgian Chambers to start working together (Singapore, Thailand and Hong Kong Belgium and Luxembourg Chambers (BLCC). Over the past weeks, this collaboration expanded to include the Belgian Korean Business Forum (BKBF) and now also Vietnam, Malaysia, Myanmar, Cambodia and India BLCCs. The MoU we have been developing will give the opportunity for members of one chamber to be welcome to the events of the other chambers. It also creates a light pan ASIA platform for regional collaboration, business introductions and provides a broader audience for hot topics and webinars.