Polish foreign minister to visit Seoul

(ATTNN: UPDATES with S. Korean ministry's announcement in last two paras)

By Lee Chi-dong

SEOUL, Sept. 29 (Yonhap) -- Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski will arrive in Seoul this weekend on a trip to promote ties between the two countries, South Korean foreign ministry and Polish embassy officials said Monday.

During his three-day stay from Sunday, the minister plans to hold a series of
meetings with his South Korean counterpart Yu Myung-hwan, Prime Minister Han
Seung-soo and Rep. Park Jin, chairman of the Foreign Affairs, Trade and
Unification Committee of the National Assembly, they said.
"The top Polish diplomat is aiming to boost Polish-South Korea relations and give
them a new incentive for upgrading bilateral relations to a new level," said
Piotr Szostak, an official in charge of political and cultural affairs at the
embassy.
The foreign ministry said the Polish minister's trip was expected to provide a
chance for the two sides to upgrade their two-decade-long relations in politics,
the economy, social and cultural sectors.
"Poland is South Korea's largest trading partner in Central-Eastern Europe, and
bilateral ties have been deepening in various aspects since the establishment of
diplomatic relations in 1989," ministry spokesman Moon Tae-young said. "South
Korean firms in particular, and mainly electronic goods producers, are making big
contributions to Poland's industrial production growth, tallied at 20-40 percent
a year."