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IMPORTANT NOTICE

The Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands has moved to the Lotte Hotel in Sogong-dong.

The embassy will be located at this hotel till May 2010. All telephone and fax numbers and e-mail addresses will stay the same.

From 30 November 2009 all visits to the Embassy will be by appointment only.

Please contact the Embassy by telephone or mail prior to your visit to arrange an appointment.

The visiting address is:

16th floor  Lotte hotel (New Wing),  Sogong –dong 1, Jung-gu, Seoul

(Postal code: 100-070)

Tel. 02-737-9514

Fax. 02-735-1321

E-mail:  seo@minbuza.nl

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Welcome to the site of the Netherlands Embassy in Seoul

In 1653, a Dutch merchant vessel on its way to Japan shipwrecked off the coast of Korea's Jeju Island. The ship’s accountant, Hendrik Hamel, managed to return to the Netherlands thirteen years later and wrote the first book in the Western world on Korea. Hamel's story is the solid base of our bilateral relationship with Korea, which, since Hamel, has naturally intensified and broadened.

No wonder: the Dutch and the Koreans have quite a few things in common. Both countries are centrally located and surrounded by economic powerhouses. It makes us both trade-oriented. The Koreans and the Dutch are quite direct in their approach as compared to their neighbours. Both countries are of relatively modest size, but have great ambitions.

More and more businessmen, officials, scolars and researchers travel between our countries. The number of tourists visiting either Korea or the Netherlands increases. Koreans and Dutchmen get more familiar with each other. As the Ambassador of the Netherlands, I see it as my duty to further guide this and to promote exchanges and collaboration in for example trade, investment, education and science.

When Hendrik Hamel shipwrecked in 1653 on the Korean coast, he couldn’t foresee that he would become the first Westerner to write on Korea. When Guus Hiddink first visited Korea, he couldn’t foresee that he would become a Korean national hero. Please step in the footsteps of these prominent people and make your encounter with Korea or the Netherlands as memorable as theirs. The past has shown that when Korea and the Netherlands team up, something magnificent can happen.

Hans Heinsbroek

Ambassador