“Hoping for More Active Exchanges in Soccer and Other Areas”
His Excellency Gustavo C. Schiavo, Acting Ambassador of Uruguay


I met His Excellency Gustavo C. Schiavo, the acting ambassador of Uruguay to Korea, on September 3rd at the Uruguay Ambassador's residence located in Gangnam, Seoul. We started our conversation on the topic of the 2010 World Cup.


Ambassador Schiavo voiced strong confidence in the Uruguayan soccer. “Uruguayan soccer boasts one hundred years of history. We won the 1930 World Cup as well as the 1950 World Cup, in which we beat Brazil 2:1. Our team has also advanced into the quarter-finals and semi-finals many times,” he said very confidently.


The Uruguayan soccer team is supported by the government, and all Uruguayans love and enjoy soccer. Diverse soccer events and games are staged in Uruguay including the National Children Soccer Game, the Juvenile Soccer Game, soccer tournaments for elementary, middle and high school students and university soccer matches. You hardly walk on any street in this nation without seeing scores of children playing soccer.


In Uruguay, there are about 200 Koreans who are mostly workers dispatched by Korean companies including Posco as well as immigrants working in the fishing industry. Meanwhile, there are only 10 Uruguayans living in Korea including Ambassador Schiavo. “In Korea, we live in a enjoyable atmosphere which we can also feel in Uruguay. In Uruguay, the national image of Korea is quite sound. I hope there will be more active exchanges through soccer as well as more efforts to foster bilateral ties in diverse sectors,” said the ambassador.


When the Uruguayan team defeated South Korea during the 2010 World Cup Games, the embassy vehicles ran under the national flag of Uruguay on the winning day until it was lowered the next day in consideration of the Korean soccer fans’ disappointment.


The population of Uruguay stands at 3.5 million and the cost of living is approximately one third that of South Korea. The Uruguayan government has provided students aged from 5 to 10 years with laptop computers for three years, enabling them to use the Internet. All Uruguayan students under 10 years of age study with the laptops. The country has implemented an early education system since the early 1980s, and children begin to learn science, medicine, art, and music when they turn 5 years old.


There are 220,000 foreign residential households in Korea. As of late May, the number of marriage immigrants reached 182,000, and approximately 20,000 foreign women marry Korean men each year. As of today, the number of children of foreign households is 121,000.


If Korea offers each household and their children laptops and early education just as is done in Uruguay, our children will develop as huge national resources in this multi-cultural and internationalized era.

The president of PPCWC&ICFW Mr. Shin, Kwang-yul ppcwc@yahoo.co.kr