Israeli Ambassador to Korea Tuvia Israeli wrapped up his four-year posting here in a farewell reception at the Israel Culture Center in southern Seoul on Tuesday.

Israeli returns to his home country in the first week of August to start his new posting there at the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jerusalem. He will be replaced by Uri Gutman who arrives here in August. Gutman has experience as head of Israel’s consulate in Shanghai, China, and in shepherding Israel’s accession into the OECD in 2010.

Israeli highlighted the help he received from a Korean translation of the book, “Start Up Nation: The Story of Israel’s Economic Miracle,” which was co-written by Dan Senor, an adviser to onetime U.S. presidential contender Mitt Romney.

“Since that book was published in Korean I could relax at home and not worry at all about our PR budget,” Israeli said during the reception.

Yoon Jong-rok, second vice minister of science, ICT and future planning, translated “Start Up Nation” in 2010, less than a year into Israeli’s posting. The book enjoyed considerable popularity in Korea.

Another highlight during Israeli’s posting concerned negotiations between Israel and the South Korean military over purchasing Israel’s Iron Dome missile dense system. The two countries are now “in advance negotiations” for the system, according to press reports in June.

Israel’s Iron Dome is deployed to block short-range missiles. South Korean war planners are considering it against North Korean rockets.

“I can assure you that (the Korean military) doesn’t have anything of comparable sophistication. Iron Dome could be something Korea can use,” Israeli said during an interview with The Korea Herald in November 2012 shortly after a temporary truce between Israel and the Palestinians.

(ephilip2011@heraldcorp.com)