Raximov, Mirzoxid and Sung Dong Ki. "Uzbekistan and South Korea: towards a special relationship". Central Asia-Caucasus Analyst, 10 June 2016.

Raximov, Mirzoxid and Sung Dong Ki. "Uzbekistan and South Korea: towards a special relationship". Central Asia-Caucasus Analyst, 10 June 2016.

• South Korea recognized the independence of Uzbekistan in December 1991, and established formal diplomatic relations within a month. Since then, Uzbekistan and South Korea have been strategic partners engaging in a high-range of cooperation.
• Uzbekistan and South Korea have carried out a continuous high-level dialogue on all political and economic issues, with heads of state meeting a foreign delegation no less than 15 times since independence.
• When President Park visited Uzbekistan in 2014, she signed a Treaty of Strategic Partnership with Uzbekistan, deepening a similar agreement made in 2006. At that meet, President Park and President Karimov also signed 60 documents pertaining to trade and investment, totaling to an economic exchange of $7.7 billion.
• South Korea has a strongly positive public perception in Central Asia, and especially Uzbekistan.
• Whereas most former-Soviet republics were nervous about South Korea considering its close relationship with the USA, Uzbekistan saw South Korea as a symbol of Asian dynamism and technological breakthrough.
• In 2015, bilateral trade turnover between the countries exceeded US$ 1.7 billion, corresponding to 50 percent of South Korea’s trade with Central Asian republics.
• South Korea has been active in realizing numerous projects and programs in different regions of Uzbekistan, including the free industrial-economic zones Navoiy and Angren, and the development of an inter-continental logistics center at Navoiy airport.
• Since 2008, Korean Air has run cargo flights through Navoiy Airport, spurring to the massive investment of modern communications systems into the airport.
• The Korea International Cooperation Agency has been involved in the design of a new terminal for Toshkent airport, which will be built by a Korean company.
• Korean investments into Uzbekistan’s economy exceeds US$ 7 billion and cover trade, communications, energy, light industry, pharmaceuticals, mining, production of petrochemicals, electronic products, and building materials.
• South Korea and Uzbekistan founded the joint venture LG CNS Uzbekistan to support the implementation of information systems and databases for E-Government in order to facilitate the mobility of people, business and government system in Uzbekistan.
• During Prime Minister Hwang’s recent visit to Uzbekistan, he joined Prime Minister Shavkat Mirziyaev in the inauguration of the hitherto largest bilateral cooperation project – the US$ 4 billon Ustyurt Gas Chemical Complex at the Surgil deposit.
• Uzbekistan and South Korea have also agreed on training programs, under which thousands of representatives of Uzbekistani small and medium-size businesses annually work and receive training in Korean enterprises and companies. Currently, around 100,000 Uzbekistani citizens are present in different sectors of the Korean economy and education system.
• For more efficient implementation and development of advanced technology, Uzbekistan has invited South Korean experts to take positions as Deputy Ministers in the Ministry for Development of Information Technologies and Communications, as well vice rectors at several universities.
• In 2014, South Korea’s Inha University opened a branch in Tashkent, which focuses on computer sciences and high-tech engineering and gives all courses in English.
• Uzbekistan’s universities and research institutions of the Academy of Sciences cooperate with several South Korean universities, research organizations, and companies. This partnership provides professional development, training and academic mobility, along with exchanges of professors and students. A number of joint conferences, symposiums, seminars and research projects have been carried out in both republics.
• Uzbekistan has the largest Korean diaspora community in the former Soviet Union -- roughly 200,000 persons of Korean descent -- and the 4th largest in the world following the China, Japan, and the USA.
• The annual forum "Republic of Korea – Central Asia" has been organized since 2007 in Korea as well as in Central Asian countries, aiming to strengthen and extend regional cooperation. The 5th Forum took place in Tashkent in November 2011.
• The "Republic of Korea – Central Asia" Forum has focused on furthering cooperation in various spheres, including the IT sector, agriculture, medicine, E-government, energy-effectiveness and natural recourses, construction and infrastructure, science and technologies, finances and textile.
• Toshkent supports Seoul’s position on the problems of the Korean Peninsula and its “New Asian Diplomacy” initiative. A note from Uzbekistan’s foreign ministry also strongly criticized North Korea’s recent nuclear test.