Korea was keen to strengthen ties with Madurai by encouraging investments in south Tamil Nadu and look beyond Chennai in the coming days, Kyungsoo Kim, Consul General of the Republic of Korea, said.
“Madurai is a historic place and it has the potential to be an industrial hub. I will take efforts to begin business ties with this city. Though there is no Korean business right now, it is a place we will look up to in future,” he said, speaking to The Hindu here on Friday.
Mr. Kim called on Mayor V. V. Rajan Chellappa at the Corporation building.
He said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s global call of ‘Make in India’ was already implemented by Korea since many Korean companies had their manufacturing facilities near Chennai. “We have already started making our products in India. For us, Tamil Nadu is a significant place and I think it is time to think of ‘Make in Tamil Nadu’ by stepping up our businesses here. It will take off in a big way in the coming days,” Mr. Kim said.
He felt that there were a lot of similarities between Korean and Tamil music and hence a Korean music troupe performed at Gandhi Museum in the city to come closer to people of Madurai.
“We have prepared special Korean dishes with rice and vegetables to make Madurai people enjoy our traditional music along with food similar to theirs,” Mr. Kim said.
Later, Mr. Kim visited ‘Amma Unavagam’ at Government Rajaji Hospital where he tasted the food and interacted with the public.