On January 20, South Korean President Park Geun-hye went on a four-day long state visit to Switzerland. She is the first South Korean President to do so since the time two countries opened diplomatic ties in 1963. During her visit, both Park and her Switzerland counterpart Didier Burkhalter held summit level talk and agreed to promote bilateral cooperation on areas like trade, science, technology and industrial innovation. The two countries also signed twelve memorandums of understanding, including agreements on improving investment conditions to help promote mutual business cooperation, boost exchanges between the research institutions and science colleges of each country. The two also signed an agreement on training in Switzerland for twenty Koreans working at Swiss companies after graduating from vocational high school every year. 1

• 1. “Korea, Switzerland sign trade, technology deals”, The Korea Herald, January 21, 2014, at http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20140120000993