National Day of the Republic of Poland

Also known as the May 3rd Constitution Day, this public holiday celebrates the declaration of the Constitution of 3 May 1791. The Constitution is regarded as the first constitution of its type in Europe and the world’s second written constitution after the United States’ in 1787. Many parades, exhibitions, concerts and public figure speeches are taken place during the day and the Polish people take the day off to celebrate this great achievement. The Polish Embassy in Seoul held a reception on Thursday, May 3 at Grand Hyatt Seoul and H.E. Piotr Ostaszewski, the Ambassador of the Republic of Poland in Seoul, said in his opening remarks that the Constitution had played the vital role to consolidate the Polish people of all generations and to achieve the Independence in 1918 which marked the 100th anniversary this year on Sunday, November 11. Mr. Ostaszewski also said that Poland and S. Korean partners would celebrate together the 30 years diplomatic ties between Poland and S. Korea next year and emphasized that Poland supported the denuclearization and the peace on the Korean Peninsula. He quoted St. Francis of Assisi “Where there is hatred, let me sow love, Where there is injury, pardon; Where there is doubt, faith; Where there is despair, hope.” He pointed out the direct flights by LOT Polish Airlines between Warsaw and Incheon which is the highlight of the past 29 years of cooperation between the two countries and emphasized that the Polish market was open to all foreign investors and Koreans in fact shared a greater part. He closed his remarks by praising the Korean’s love of Chopin as proved by the award winning pianist Cho Seong-jin and invited all the guests to the Polish Day 2018 held on May 6th at Cheonggye Plaza, Seoul. In her congratulatory speech, Oh Young-ju, a multilateral diplomacy coordinator of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, pointed out the Strategic Partnership between the two countries established in 2013 and said Korea’s investment in Poland reached more than USD$2 billion. She emphasized the fact that around 200 Korean companies were operating in Poland as of 2018 and the cooperation was spanning to R&D, electric vehicles and future industries from manufacturing. She also expected more active exchanges propelled by the ‘Korea-Poland Working Holiday Visa’ set to sign this year and closed the speech on wishing ever continuing friendship and prosperity between the two countries. 

Polish Day 2018 

The Polish Embassy in Seoul held the Polish Day 2018 on Sunday, May 6th from 10am to 5 pm at Cheonggye Plaza, Seoul. This one day festival is designed to promote Polish culture, language, pottery and food to the people living or staying in S. Korea. LOT Polish Airlines gave out free Seoul-Warsaw return ticket by lot and a variety of events such as quiz show, fashion show and Polish music concerts by professor Jerzy Maciejewski and his students at Keimyung-Fryderyk Chopin Academy of Music as well as dance performance by the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies Polish Department ‘Mazurka’ in traditional costumes were held.