The following are details of an interview with Charge d’Affaires Saleh Kh. S. Alfaiz of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in Seoul on the occasion of the National Day of Saudi Arabia.--Ed.
Question: What such important developments, if any, have taken place between Korea and your country in the past one year since our last coverage of your country?
Answer: There have been some significant developments between Saudi Arabia and Korea in various fields. In the cultural field, this year marked the second anniversary of holding the Arab Cultural Festival in May, organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Korea. This year’s Festival was again successful in showcasing the sprit and essence of rich Arab culture to Korean society. In 2008, the Saudi Folklore Arts Band introduced for the first time in Korea the unique Saudi traditional dance. For this year, Saudi Arabia presented the beauty of Arabic letters through its calligraphy exhibition, a collection of contemporary art works by thee renowned Saudi calligraphers.
Furthermore, the Saudi Arabia Cultural Festival was held at the Korean Center for Arab and Islamic Culture, Incheon City for during October and November, 2008. The festival included a variety of art performances by the Saudi Folklore Art Team, lectures and cultural events, along with exhibitions of traditional craftworks, historical relics and paintings that represent the life in Saudi Arabia, and contribute in introducing lifestyle and ancient culture of Saudi Arabia to the friendly Korean people.
Furthermore, Cultural Attache from Saudi Arabia came to Korea this year to lead the Saudi Arabian Cultural Mission, under the umbrella of the Royal Embassy, with a mission to supervise over 70 Saudi students studying in major Korean universities and to ensure their successful stay in Korea. Since Saudi Arabia and Korea signed the memorandum of understanding on cooperation in higher education in March 2007, Saudi students, funded by the Saudi government under King Abdullah Scholarship Program, have been studying in some of renowned Korean universities. No doubt, students of both countries will gain priceless opportunities to broaden their views and promote exchanges between the two countries.
Korea and the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) members Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, and Bahrain- held the third round of FTA talks in July this year in Seoul, aiming to conclude the talks by the end of this year at the earliest. The GCC countries are Korea’s second largest trading partner. According to the Korea International Trade Association (KITA), the trade volume between Korea and GCC recorded $15 billion in 2008, the second highest following China. This is why both Korea and GCC countries, including Saudi Arabia, are expected to garner great benefits from Korea-GCC FTA.
Also there were numerous visits by high-ranking officials of both countries as the following;
-The visit of His Excellency Dr. Mohamad Bin Abdullah Al-Ghamdi, General Secretary of Majlis Ash Shura to Korea on the occasion of Secretaries General Forum of Asia Pacific Parliaments held during 7-11 July 2009 in Seoul
-The visit of H.E. Ahmad Saeed Al-Zahrani, Captain of Naval Force in July
-The visit of H.E. Dr. Abdulrahman Al-Jafary, Governor of the Communications and Information Technology Commission in June
-The visit of H.E. Abdullah Alsheeha, Minister of Higher Education in June
-The visit of His Royal Highness Abdulrahman bin Fahd Al-Faisal Al-Saud, Commander of Royal Saudi Air Force in May
-The visit of His Excellency Honorable Park Jin, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs, Trade and Unification Committee of the National Assembly to the Kingdom in May 2009
-The visit of His Excellency Lim Chae-jin, then Prosecutor General, to the Kingdom in March 2009 
Q: Please introduce in detail the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia, including his major achievements, political philosophy, family and hobbies.
A: The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Abdullah bin Abdulaziz was proclaimed the sixth King of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on August 1, 2005. Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz is also Prime Minister of the Council of Ministers and Commander of the National Guard.
King Abdullah was born in Riyadh in 1924, and received his early education at the royal court. Influenced by his father, founder of the modern Kingdom King Abdulaziz Al Saud, he developed a profound respect for religion, history and the Arab heritage. His years spent living in the desert with Bedouin tribes taught him their values of honor, simplicity, generosity and bravery, and instilled in him an acute sense of responsibility towards his country and its people and the desire to assist in their development. In 1962, Abdullah was appointed Head of the National Guard.
Crown Prince Abdullah modernized the National Guard and transformed it into a military, cultural and social institution. It became the means of preparing generations of professional soldiers who are highly trained, academically and technically qualified and well equipped. 
The Crown Prince also set up military and technical schools to further these aims. These included the main officer training centre, later the King Khalid Military College, opened by the Crown Prince on the King's behalf in 1982. Additionally, he founded the National Guard Development Scheme, which created joint armed units in which engineers, logistics, artillery, signals and other units were combined into brigades.
All this growth and development in the National Guard required the building of a major infrastructure of barracks and housing complexes, firing ranges and training grounds, as well as schools and military hospitals. The King Khalid Hospital in Jeddah and King Fahd Hospital in Riyadh, were opened, and schools were founded to promote literacy and knowledge of the Koran. In this way, the National Guard became an institution whose bounds spread far beyond a solely military function.
While maintaining charge over the National Guard, Prince Abdullah was appointed Second Deputy Prime Minister in 1975 on the succession of King Khalid, and when King Fahd came to the throne in 1982, he was named Crown Prince and First Deputy Prime Minister. In the latter capacity, he presided over cabinet meetings and governed the country as Deputy to Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd bin Abdulaziz.
As Crown Prince, he traveled widely throughout the Kingdom. During the course of 2004, he inaugurated a number of projects not only in the capital city of Riyadh, but in Makkah and in Taif, as well as in the Eastern Province. Always mindful of the interests of the people, in 2005 he closely monitored the ongoing election process for the country's municipal councils.
But his influence has been a cultural as well as a political one, for he has a keen interest in the history of his country with all its traditions. He has set up an annual Cultural and Heritage Festival in which people come from all over Saudi Arabia to take part in folksongs, dancing and literary events. The National Guard and its Commander are renowned for their efforts to preserve and celebrate the country's cultural heritage. The National Heritage and Culture Festival, established in 1985 and held at Jenadriyah each year, is an important event in the Saudi Arabian year.
Throughout his life as a public figure, the Crown Prince has been a major force in domestic and foreign policy. He has visited most of Saudi Arabia's allies and has used influence to mediate in discussions between Arab states and played an impressive role in dealing with the many new issues and challenges on the regional and international stages. In this context he made many visits overseas which included Turkey in August 2006 and a four nation tour of India, China, Malaysia and Pakistan in January/ February 2007. As Crown Prince his visits included France in 2005, Austria in 2004, Russia in 2003, and Germany in 2001, in addition to travels within the Arab and Islamic worlds. In 2000, following the United Nations Millennium Summit in New York, he traveled to Brazil, Argentina, and Venezuela; and in 1998, in a world tour that included the United States, he visited Britain, France, China, Japan, South Korea, and Pakistan.
The recent visit by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah to the Far East and Indian Subcontinent early this year 2007 reflects the formation of a pragmatic foreign policy and strategic partnership with East and South Asia based on the present and future geopolitical realities. Many more visits to the area will follow soon.
As head of Saudi delegations, Crown Prince Abdullah addressed many conferences, such as the Summit Meeting of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) in Malaysia in October, 2003; the Arab-U.S. Summit in Sharm Al-Shaikh in June, 2003; and the Summit of the League of Arab States in Beirut in March 2002. His participation in this international diplomacy reflects the Kingdom's leadership role in defense of Arab and Islamic issues and for the achievement of world peace, stability and security. Peace in the Middle East and the plight of the Palestinians are of particular concern to him, and the initiative on these that he presented at the Beirut Arab Summit in 2002 has been adopted by the League of Arab States, as has his forward- looking strategy for a unified Arab stance on international issues. 
On the issue of terrorism, King Abdullah has been unwavering in his condemnation of the taking of innocent lives, and in his denunciation of deviant groups that falsely claim to be Islamic. At the Counter-Terrorism International Conference in Riyadh in February, 2005, he urged international cooperation to fight this global scourge.
Throughout his life, King Abdullah has retained a love of the desert, along with a love of horsemanship. He is a breeder of pure Arabian horses, and founder of the equestrian club in Riyadh. Another life-long passion is reading, to which he attributes great importance. He has established two libraries, the King Abdulaziz Library in Riyadh, and one in Casablanca, Morocco.
Q: What was the volume of the bilateral trade in 2008? What are the most promising areas of investment by Korean companies in your country-and vice versa?
A: The Republic of Korea stands as one of the 10 largest trading partners of the Kingdom with a bilateral trade totaling $39 billion in 2008.
Saudi’s export to Korea, which mainly include oil and petrochemical products, reached $21.16 billion whereas its import from Korea - mostly autos, steels, industrial machineries, household electronics - hit $4.026 billion.
Along with the firm trade relations, there is also ample room for cooperation between the two countries in the investment field as well as Saudi Arabia, with its huge oil money, is carrying out massive projects in various fields. It is investing a large sum of money into developing oil fields and gas fields. It is also actively pursuing investment in building SOC facilities for electricity power, water, road, port, airport, to name a few. As a result, plant construction industry in the Kingdom is flourishing. Currently, the Kingdom’s plant construction market accounts for almost 4.5% of Saudi’s GDP, with its orders exceeding $50 billion per year. The plant construction industry, which includes building petrochemical plant, desalination plant, and cement plant-is expected to develop continuously. In particular, a massive construction projects for petrochemical plant are underway in the Jubail and Yanbo areas. It is well know that Korea possesses world’s top technology in the plant construction field. When Korea’s plant construction technology is combined with our country’s energy development projects and our plant industry, it will bring great benefit to both countries.
Also Saudi Arabia is emerging as the largest IT market in the Middle East as the Saudi government is actively pursuing to establish information society. It is expecting two digit growth in the IT market until 2012. Again Korea, as an IT power, has high edge technology and know-how in the field. In their term, I welcome and look forward to see more participation of Korean firms in the field in the coming years.
Q: Please explain your National Day and its celebrations in your country and around the world?
A: The National Day of Saudi Arabia is the memory of erecting and solidifying the edifice of the lofty and peaceful state of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. On this day, the 23rd of September 1932, the Late King Abdul Aziz Bin Abdul Rahman Al-Saud unified segmented regions and communities in one consolidated nation upholding Islamic Law as it's constitution. King Abdul Aziz spent more than twenty years dedicating tireless efforts to the advancement of the country. His Majesty consolidated the pillars of security, order and stability in the vast territory of the Kingdom and built the basis for its development and progress. On this day every year, we Saudis celebrate this great memory which fills our hearts with pride and honor. This great memory of unifying our beloved country under the banner of Islam, tracing the right path of guidance, adopting all causes of civilization without loosing our Islamic values nor missing the Arab manners and dispositions.
Q: What are the major tourist destinations of your country? Are Korean visitors increasing?
A: Al-Hijr (Madain Salih)
In 2008, the Archaeological Site of Al-Hijr (Madain Salih) was enlisted to the UNESCO’s list of the world cultural heritage as the first UNESCO’s World Heritage property to be inscribed in Saudi Arabia. Formerly known as Hegra it is the largest conserved site of the civilization of the Nabataeans south of Petra in Jordan. It features well-preserved monumental tombs with decorated facades dating from the 1st century BC to the 1st century AD. The site also features some 50 inscriptions of the pre-Nabataean period and some cave drawings. Al-Hijr bears a unique testimony to Nabataean civilization. With its 111 monumental tombs, 94 of which are decorated, and water wells, the site is an outstanding example of the Nabataeans’ architectural accomplishment and hydraulic expertise.
Al-Sawdah
Al-Sawadah is located Approximately 20 km from Abha city centre at Al Sawdah, and is the highest point in Saudi Arabia at 10000 feet. Is is distinguished with dense forests. The site is well known for its environmental characteristics, the most important of which is the frequency of rainfall in the Asir area. Through it, dense fog and clouds passing by its forest and high mountains can be seen.
Currently, the Saudi tourism visas are issued to few countries, and they are yet to be issued in Korea. However, the Saudi government is going through various internal procedures to facilitate the tourism visa to welcome and accommodate all visitors from Korea. I believe that such an effort will bear fruit in the very near future, and further boost the cultural exchanges between the two countries.
Q: Please explain about yourself and your activities in Korea.
A: I am married and have 6 children. My hobbies include climbing mountain, specially Namsan Mountain, reading, and traveling. Regarding my activities in Korea, I will exert my efforts to strengthen the cooperative relations between our two countries in all fields. I will do my best to encourage reciprocal investments and increase exchanges in the cultural and academic areas.
