Ambassador Luis Cruz spent the third weekend of May 2008 in Busan, South Korea as part of the Embassy’s outreach program. He visited the office of Philippine Honorary Consul to Busan, Mr. Keun Chul Lee, the Chairman of Sam Jung Construction located at 1163 Oncheon 2-Dong, Dongnae-gu.

He also met with the Filipino community and toured the facilities of the Catholic Center for migrant communities. He also accompanied Director General Lilia de Lima of the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) during her call on Mr. Kyu-won Park, President of Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction Co., Ltd. In Busan, South Korea. DG de Lima urged Mr. Park to register Hanjin’s projected expansion of its shipyard industry in Misamis Oriental with PEZA in order to benefit from its services extended to investors.

It will be noted that Hanjin started the development of a 249-hectare area in Subic two years ago into a shipyard at the cost of US$1.6 billion, which is reportedly the fourth largest in the world. Mr. Park said that by the end of June 2008, it will deliver the first ship measuring 375 meters produced at its plant in Subic to its foreign customer. Photo shows Ambassador Cruz with DG de Lima (center) and Honorary Consul Lee (left) at the office of the latter.