Swaziland hopes South Korea will reopen its embassy in the southern African country to better strengthen cooperation between the two countries, the lower house speaker of the African country said Wednesday.

"We do need the Korean embassy to reopen in our country ... I believe it will be easy for us to cooperate, to be closer to each other and to talk through the embassy," Themba Msibi, the House of Assembly Speaker, said in an interview with Yonhap News Agency.

The South Korean embassy in Pretoria, South Africa, is now covering Swaziland since a South Korean embassy in the country was shut down in 1993.

Now Swazi officials have to travel to Pretoria to talk to South Korean officials, the Swazi lawmaker said.

"It would be better that we start afresh so the two governments could establish Korean Embassy in Swaziland as well as (a Swaziland embassy in Seoul)," the parliamentary speaker noted.

Msibi is traveling South Korea this week to discuss South Korea's financial and medical assistance to the southern African country.

Swaziland hopes for more assistance from South Korea in the agricultural and technology sectors as well as the medical field in order to better treat Swazi people suffering from stroke and heart diseases, the lawmaker added. (Yonhap)