The independence days of Pakistan and Korea are just one day apart, on Aug. 14 and 15, respectively. The two countries also have in common experiences of colonialism, emancipation and partition, which have inspired their postwar international engagement.

The Pakistani Embassy hosted a reception earlier this month to celebrate its 70th Independence Day and expanding ties with Korea, as the two middle power nations seek to cooperate with one other for regional and global initiatives.

“The Independence of Pakistan is a unique tale among the comity of nations,” Pakistani Ambassador Zahid Nasrullah Khan said in a speech at Coex in Seoul, in front of 1,100 guests. “It is a tale of a dual struggle against former colonial Britain and Hindu majority rule that oppressed the Muslim minority.”

The Muslims of the Indian subcontinent, under the leadership of Pakistan’s first Governor-General Muhammad Ali Jinnah, freed themselves from their heavy-handed rulers to carve out a homeland where they could practice their faith, he added. 

Stressing that both Pakistan and Korea went through trials and travails on the way to liberation, the envoy argued “the shared heritage of struggle and success reflects the resilience of our people.”

The event — jointly organized by the Pakistan Business Association — gathered the first Korean Ambassador to Pakistan Oh Jae-hee, who served from 1983-85, and former Korean Ambassador to Pakistan Song Jong-hwan, who served from 2013-16, Rep. Yoon Sang-hyeong and Pakistani singer Sara Raza, among dignitaries, businesspeople and Pakistani residents in Korea.

In an interview with The Korea Herald, Khan mentioned an agreement on the Economic Development Cooperation Fund that was signed in October last year. The $500 million fund has been allocated across Pakistan and will be administered through 2017.

The two countries have also completed their preliminary feasibility study for a bilateral free trade agreement. They are currently consulting one another for joint recommendations and, if all goes to plan, the first round of negotiations will commence next year, according to the diplomat.

Furthermore, a $100 million information technology park in Islamabad is being conceptualized with $89 million equity from Korea and the rest from Pakistan. A preliminary feasibility study has been finished and a loan agreement is expected to be signed in October following appraisal by Korea Eximbank in September, the embassy said.

On infrastructure investment, Korea Energy started constructing a 103 megawatt gulpur hydropower plant in Kotli district of Azad Kashmir in last December, with operations expected to begin in 2018. Korea Electric Power Company is building the Dasu Hydropower Project on the Indus River through a consortium, with the first stage of the project to be serviceable by 2021.

Many Pakistani officials have visited Korea through knowledge-sharing programs to shore up various capacities, Khan added.

“In September last year, Korean President Park Geun-hye and Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif met on the sidelines of the 70th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York,” said Song. “And in November, the 9th Bilateral Policy Consultation took place in Islamabad. The two sides will hold bilateral consultations at a strategic dialogue level from this year.”

Highlighting that both countries bore the brunt of the “violent division of people,” he said Islamabad and Seoul had spent large expenditures on defense as frontline states of the Cold War, characterized by “cycles of democratic and military rule.”

“We both highly respect our elders and teachers. Our languages have the same sentence structure and many common words,” the 73-year-old former ambassador said.

“Pakistan is blessed with its strategic location between the Himalayan Mountains and the Arabian Sea. It has fertile lands and rivers with excellent irrigation. Most importantly, the country has a large population of 200 million people, including well-educated, English-speaking and technologically savvy workers.”

Referring to the “miracle on the Han River,” which had transformed Korea from ruins into an industrial powerhouse in the second half of the 20th century, Song said he similarly expected the “miracle on the Indus River” in 21st century Pakistan.

As a rudimentary work, he underlined replicating the lessons from Korea’s Samaul Undong community mobilization initiative across rural Pakistan, to narrow the economic disparity with the country's globalized urban centers.

By Joel Lee (joel@heraldcorp.com)