An exclusive interview with Deputy Prime Minister of Ethiopia

An exclusive interview with Deputy Prime Minister of Ethiopia

Ethiopia has many attractive conditions for Korean investors

Jennifer Kwon

Deputy Prime Minister Demeke Mekonnen Hassen of the Federal Republic of Ethiopia recently visited South Korea from Nov. 30 to Dec. 3 to discuss ways to promote bilateral relations and expand cooperative partnership between two countries in fields such as science and technology. The visit was arranged by the South Korean government to initiate diplomacy and improve relations with the leading East African country in exchange for sharing the strategies of achieving significant socio-economic development in a short period of time. The Deputy Prime minister also held talks with South Korean companies on investment and business opportunities in Ethiopia. At an exclusive interview with The Korea Post at Lotte Hotel in Seoul on Dec. 1, 2014, he said, “Infrastructure in Ethiopia is developing and everything is becoming more conducive and so it is time for South Korean investors to come and invest.” Here are the excerpts from the interview:

Question: Would you wish to invite Korean business to invest in Ethiopia? If so, what are the most promising areas in Ethiopia for the Korean businesses to invest?

Answer: Of course yes. As you know, Koreans and Ethiopians are special friends. Their partnership and cooperation were cemented by blood. (Ethiopia is one of the two African countries that sent troops during the Korean War to South Korea to help maintain and support its democracy) In the contemporary world, these two countries, Korea as a developed and civilized country and Ethiopia, after a long suffering, ups and downs, entering a new chapter to join the Korean roadmap, is a special platform for these two countries.

When you look at the partnership, it’s not the government levels only but business community levels and people to people levels and, to me, that is a multi-faceted and all-around partnership. From this, to sustain this one, business communities and investors’ engagement are very crucial.

So having investors from South Korea, who have knowledge and different capacities and resources, we give special consideration to such kind of investors.

In Ethiopia, the comparative advantage to work in Ethiopia and investors here, the first one is that Ethiopia is a peaceful country as the center of Africa. It is the center of Africa, where the previous African union, the Organization of African Unity (OAU), and the current African union are at (Addis Ababa). Ethiopia’s Addis Ababa, the capital city of Africa, with now nearly four million people, next to New York and Brussels, it is the hub center for Africa. New York, for United Nations, and Brussels, for Europe, and Addis Ababa is the center for Africa and other international communities.

In Addis Ababa, there is a lot of creativity and dynamism but also as a peaceful and predictable one. Any business, whether it is real estate, higher education, construction industry, or mining, is welcome in Addis Ababa today.

We are calling foreign investment with attractive mechanisms to invest in different areas. Manufacturing is almost an infant industry. We were agrarian up to now. We are seeking to transform the country into industrialization by chipping in cheap labor.

We have very strong airways. We fly to more than sixty countries. Directly to Latin America, Brazil, Washington, different parts of Europe, all in Africa, Tokyo, Seoul, and three places in China. It is the best in Africa. Now, we are constructing airways to ports to Djibouti.

Infrastructure is developing and everything is becoming more conducive so it is time for South Korean investors to come here and invest.

Q: Many countries offer foreign investors incentives. What incentives does Ethiopia offer to Korean investors?

A: For private investors, especially focusing on manufacturing industries, there are lists of priority areas like getting preferred treatment on customs, duty free items, tax free mechanisms.

Additional proposals are submitted to the government to be approved at least in the end of this month to make investment attractive and competitive.

The other thing is that in Ethiopia, rules and interrelations are very strong. We can’t say we are free from corruption, but it is not an overriding environment and the government is very cautious.

Q: What are the major products of Ethiopia which Korean consumers might find attractive and want to import from Ethiopia?

A: Traditionally, our export is focused on coffee, number one, gold, some oil products, leather products but now we are focusing to diversify our exports. Number one is to increase the volume of coffee to be exported. Number two is to process agricultural products to finished goods, like shoes.

Another one is to focus on textile, garments industry.

We are continuing our gold and other mineral exports. Ethiopia is number one in Africa on its animal resources, yet we do not harvest them in the proper way. We are focusing on how to improve the health of our animals and how to harvest them in a productive way. In the future we have to diversify; we have huge and immense animal potential like cows, sheep, goats, and others.

Up to now we have been discouraging to export animal meat because the local people will be afflicted and the price will increase; we are rethinking that one. Export-oriented strategy is our central policy and diversifying is another one.

We are finalizing sugar factories, with more than 200 hectares of land for sugar plantage. We hope Ethiopia to become a leader country in the world to export sugar. Koreans have to look which is appropriate for import.

Q: What is the general view of Ethiopian people on Koreans?

A: The Korean experience is highly appreciated in Ethiopia. From 1950s, 60s to now, from its different problems to how they managed to reach a civilized country, as having the 13th or 14th strongest economy in the world.

Koreans in 1950s and 60s, were in a terrible situation, and then they jumped from the ashes to this civilization. Ethiopians wish to follow this path. Everybody in Ethiopia, they’re very, very keen and proud of how Koreans achieved such development. People are also aware of how Koreans are polite and respectable.

Q: Does Ethiopia have many tourist destinations that are attractive to Korean visitors?

A:  Of course. Ethiopia is becoming one of the best destinations for tourists. Why? Because of peace. Too, there are many historical, natural, and religious sites. We have nine properties registered by UNESCO that is number one in Africa. Great monuments constructed before 3000 years, amazing places. It’s a very rich country in tourism.

The other one is that all the days and nights are equal. All 12 hours of the day are bright, other 12 hours are dark -- it’s equally divided. This is the only place in the world that is Ethiopia. There is no heavy winter or hot summer; it’s almost average. The average temperature is the room temperature.

Also, we have a different calendar, different working hours, and different months. All the days and the nights are naturally equal. When the sunrise begins, we count our clock and when it reaches the middle, it is midday, and then the sun goes down and at sunset, the day is finished.

The evening night starts; the mid-night is again the middle and when the dark is finished, the sun comes up and it is the other day.

The other one is that all 12 months are thirty days so we have 13 months. Our new year is September, not January. It follows the natural cycle, summer to winter, for our winter, meaning our rainy season is June to August. Ethiopian calendar follows the nature.

We have our own letters, own alphabet, own numbering systems, and we are the only one that has not been colonized by super powers.

Q: Please explain about yourself, including your career and personal background.

A: I grew up in the rural area, I come from a (perhaps, rich) peasant family. At the age of 9, I started school and then I went to a university, had my first degree in science in 1987. I joined a teaching profession for five years and after that I joined politics for the last twenty one or two years.

I used to be the bureau deputy president of the region and in 2008, I came to the federal government, I was assigned as the minister of education, I served there for some five years and was transferred as a deputy prime minister. I am now coordinating the technology and social class sectors of education.

I did my master’s degree in the United Kingdom in 2003 in political science. It was a jump from natural sciences to political science. I had been in the UK for fourteen months and last year, on December 5th, I was offered an honorary degree in education and science.

I married in 1995 and I have four children, two boys and two girls. My first child is a science student in Ethiopia, to become a medical doctor in Ethiopia. My second son is interested in politics, may follow my life. I am very happy in my father’s and mother’s life. My father is 96 years old. My mother is 79 years old.

Q: How does one make a prime minister in Ethiopia?

A: In our political system, that depends on the work and the favor of the leader. I might go to regional government leadership, to the ministry, to the prime minister’s office, to continue my position. The ruling party proposes the prime minister to the Parliament. The majority vote of the Parliament decides. And then the prime minister again proposes the deputy prime minister to the Parliament and the Parliament will approve or disapprove. If you’re not accepted by either one, you can’t have that position.

Q: Does your Prime Minister have any plan to visit Korea?

A: We hope so. I think our prime minister has already invited the President of Korea to visit Ethiopia and depending on our prime minister might visit Korea in exchange. That will be managed by two foreign ministers.

Q: Have you ever visited Korea before? If not, had you heard about Korea before you came to Korea? If so, what’s the difference, if any, between what you learned about Korea and what you actually see here in Korea now?

A: I read many books about Korea and many of my friends had been here for visits and even for longer time. Here, the system is very standardized. Your focus on science and technology and human resource development impressed me, that is a landmark from your side and there are a lot to come from in this regard.

This article was published by The Korea Post (December 2014 issue)

Campus Security Cameras Multiply

Campus Security Cameras Multiply

Jennifer Kwon (17)

There are approximately sixty cameras dispersed around Carleton’s campus, although the numbers are constantly increasing, with almost ten to twenty added per year according to Security’s needs.

Security and residential offices convene periodically throughout the year to discuss where to put more cameras. The group decides locations based on predicted future and past incidents, such as where property has been stolen or people had been injured. New cameras are installed over winter and summer breaks.

The locations of the surveillance cameras are not specified on the website for safety reasons.

“You cannot publicize information that people might use for purposes that are the opposite of what you intend,” Daniel Bergeson, the director of Auxiliary Services, explained. “By telling people where everything is, there might be people who will use that information.”

Wayne Eisenhuth, the director of Security Services, reaffirmed Bergeson’s statement. “The surveillance system is put up as a protective measure for the students, not to spy on them.”

In line with the campus handbook, which states, “The use of surveillance cameras is limited to uses that do not violate a person’s reasonable expectation of privacy,” surveillance areas do not include private areas such as locker rooms, bathrooms, student rooms, and individual offices.

According to Bergeson, cameras are only installed in public places such as hallways, lobbies, or entrances of the buildings, excluding the Arboretum.

Most students appear to be unaware of the presence or location of cameras on campus. In fact, many students and staff members responded to questions regarding Carleton’s surveillance system with either indifference or astonishment that Carleton needs one.

“I feel like it’s not necessary because Carleton campus is pretty safe already and I doubt that there’s going to be a lot of incidents,” first year Sandy Lor commented.

Another first year, Elizabeth Zheng, felt differently. “I would feel safer if there [were] cameras around, just in case something happens. I’ll be fine with it as long as it is not inside the buildings.”

Zheng and others were pleased to hear that cameras are not allowed in private places in accordance with Carleton’s guidelines.

Regardless of students’ opinions, the surveillance system has played a significant role in identifying the agitators in small and large past incidents. Such incidents include: salespeople coming in and out of dormitories, attempting to sell magazine subscriptions, a student letting loose a bunch of crickets in the library late at night, and a group of students stretching yarn across Weitz common to install an unpermitted art exhibit.

Bergeson recalled a series of fire alarms that occurred a few years ago, in which a student triggered the Cassat or James Hall alarms at 1:00 AM every night for almost a month. Security was able to identify the student by spotting the individual’s face on camera.

In 2005, according to Eisenthal, a Northfield resident stalked a female varsity basketball player. The stalker repeatedly put notes in the student’s mailbox with a list of instructions on how to find him at a section of the Gould Library. Her coach reported the incident, and security was able to identify the culprit through camera footage showing him entering and leaving the library.

There have been fewer interesting cases in recent years. The biggest crime of this term, detected by the surveillance system, was the theft three bicycles stolen near Evans and Cowling at the same week.

This article was published at The Carletonian 

An Insider’s View on Hong Kong protests

An Insider’s View on Hong Kong protests

Jennifer Kwon ’17

Hong Kong has been following a "one country, two systems" policy since it was handed over to the People's Republic of China in 1997 by the United Kingdom, which has allowed its people to enjoy both civil liberties and economic freedom. At least that was what the people thought until recently when a university professor and a large group of students brought attention to the undemocratic interventions of the Beijing government in elections held in Hong Kong. Aside from what the media has been reporting about the protests, the views and opinions of Carleton students who were born or raised in Hong Kong help us look deeper into this issue. 

Avery Cheng (undecided, 2018)

“My family, especially my dad, is on the opposing side of the protests and Occupy Central movement whileas most of my friends are in the pro-protest side, arguing for universal suffrage and such. By listening to both of their arguments, I can empathize with what each party has to stand for. What anti-protest people are saying is that since China has given us so much freedom already and has so little interference, why bother and why disrupt this perfect government that is already working so nicely. On the other hand, the protesters are arguing we have to change the existing faults and improve the status quo. The older generation regards the younger people engaging in protests as naive because they think the students don’t realize how powerful the Chinese government is. Honestly, I also don’t think China will ever take its hands off Hong Kong, it will always have its mark on Hong Kong.” 

Florence Wong (Computer Science, 2016)

“I noticed that the newspapers in the United States and the newspapers back home (Hong Kong) take a really different stance when covering the protests in Hong Kong. Here, I think the articles are a lot pro-democracy. The protests have been getting violent these days but my mom also told me that Western media amplified the violence of the police and instead toned down the violence of the protesters to make them seem more civil and democratic. Back home, there are a lot of opinion articles not only advocating but also criticizing the ongoing protests. What’s also interesting is that, in China, the government blocks the coverage of the protest from the media so if you search Hong Kong protests in Chinese newspapers, you won’t get any results. That makes me realize it’s important to think twice about what we are exposed to the media around us, even in the US or in China.” 

Anonymous (2016) from Hong Kong  

“I would say the protests will last around two weeks. An article that I read this morning said that there’s just a sharp decline in every form, including the turnouts of the protests. It will break down eventually. This needs to be handled through good leadership which they are lacking of. The people who are leading the protests are students and they’re missing class. They’re missing work. After a while, they have to go back to school and work. It’s been great so far and the intention behind the protests is very honorable but that’s what’s going to happen and that’s what has been happening recently. It is simply not big enough; it needs major governmental displacement. If you really want to see change, you need to topple down the big figures on top such as a reelection. My family and I are pro-protest, believing that takeover shall happen eventually, but the timeliness of it needs to be respected and adhered to. We have a right to self determination that shouldn't be taken away from us, especially by force. Hong Kongese are Chinese, at the end of the day, and taking away the land of your own brethren is frankly quite disgusting.”

This article was published at The Carletonian 

No Trash, Just Art

No Trash, Just Art

Jennifer Kwon ’17

“It’s just the way I feel now:” Peck Fashions Sculpture from Garbage

Those who frequently hang out in the Weitz Center for Creativity, either for classes or for extracurriculars, would have recently noticed that there is a huge, unfinished sculpture at the outdoors garden on the first floor. It is made by no other than our Randy Peck, one of the beloved custodial staff who has been working at Carleton College for the last 27 years, whose passion for recycling inspired him to construct a work of art, entirely out of abandoned “junk”.

Intended to be fifteen feet tall, the sculpture takes form of a Kachina doll, made out of materials found by local and campus garbage cans. The head, which solely takes up nearly five feet, was originally an aluminum vent cover once used in the roof of a campus building. The rusty surface is no longer to be seen for it is painted with vibrant colors of paint, collected from the Rice County Recycling Center, by Peck’s father, Bob. Air pipes, donated by Carleton shop engineer Don Smith, are used as its arms while old drinking fountains serve as its feet.

(Randy Peck/Carleton College) A preliminary sketch of the sculpture by the artist.

The sculpture is still very much in progress. Peck plans to add a pink cup cap as its belt buckle and little ribbon pins, that seem to be made for a cancer donation, as the fringes on its arms. Both were found in the trash on campus.

Peck has been working on the sculpture for the past two years but it is only recently that he received the support that it needs. Hudlin Wagner, Dean of Students, and Steve Richardson, Director of Arts, have been the biggest supporters of his project, encouraging him to continue and granting the sculpture a temporary location on campus for display. Three Carleton students, Yasir Hassan (15), Henri Sandiffer (15), and Sam Cattau (15), whom he all met when working at the Recreation Center, also volunteered to help finishing the sculpture.

“I became interested in Randy's Kachina doll project because it enables us to draw awareness to the environment in a unique way,” said Yasir Hassan, a senior religion major. “Part of our vision is, when members of our campus community see the sculpture, it will make them more conscious of the environment and encourage them to reuse unwanted or broken items in new and unique ways.”

Peck titled the sculpture as “the keeper of knowledge”, a name that is often used by the chiefs of Native American tribes, wishing the sculpture will instill awareness of material waste and alternative ways to reuse such thrown away garbage. He hopes it will act as “the teacher of recycling” and educate the students on the importance of reusing materials that they would have otherwise simply disposed in the trash.

“It was a commercial I saw when I was a child that sparked my interest in recycling,” Peck explained. “There was a Native American with the headdress looking out the earth and its pile of garbage, and he starts crying. That’s the why I feel now.”


This article was published at The Carletonian 

Arctic Artist Plunges Visitors into Darkness

Arctic Artist Plunges Visitors into Darkness
Jennifer Kwon (17)

As the issue of climate change has been heating up, more artists have been incorporating nature and science into their artworks, whether as an act of pure artistic movement, preserving the nature, or alarming the audience of such change. In her exhibition “Markers of Time” at the Weitz Center, Christina Seely ‘98 depicts the change by focusing on the relationship between natural and man-made time and the concept of changing time.

The exhibition is organized in three different concepts of time, metra (measure), jugis (constant), and muto (change). The photographs of jugis that show the constantness of the sun setting in the equator region emphasize the change of the landscapes in the Arctic. The photograph which Seely attempts to place the arctic fox back to its natural habitat of snow shows the distinctive contrast between the natural order and its current disrupted state.

Even though Seely and Tape, the curator of a neighboring exhibition “Then and Now”, share the theme of climate change and the Arctic, they take on markedly different approaches when addressing the topic. The most noticeable difference is the usage of light. While Tape’s exhibition is brightly lit, Seely’s space is dark and gives an ambience of bareness. The effect of darkness is especially apparent because her works are more widespread yet fewer in number than Tape’s.

According to Laurel Bradley, the director of the Perlman Teaching Museum, the darkness of the exhibit is intended since Seely wanted to create more of an immersive experience and show the sense of quietness and darkness of the Arctic to the viewers.

Seely’s exhibition also stands out in her usage of different methods in presentation. Aside from her works of conventional photography, she also combines a number of moving stills into a video projection. By removing accompanying descriptions from her work, she helps the viewers to immerse themselves into the Arctic environment through the projections and forces them to come up with their own interpretations.

The experience of immersion in the Arctic becomes complete when the viewer enters an unknown room at the corner of the exhibit surrounded by dark certains. Lying on the ground with pillows, the viewer enters a space of total darkness and a state of vulnerability.

Unfortunately, since the total darkness experience is entirely voluntary, the audience can choose to pass it by. Some may not even realize it is the part of the exhibit since there are no instructions or manuals written accompanying it. Bradley admitted, “It takes a certain commitment to go in a room that is pretty dark without any information.”

Seely, however, believes the variation of methods will allow the viewers to engage more in the exhibit. “The installation allows [the viewers] more time in there and let’s you to meditate

more and let go and see what it happens,” she explained. “With still images, you have to decide to engage in a different way so hopefully the installations get you to sort of open up to the still photographs.”

Hannah Jones, a senior studio art major and a museum attendant at Perlman, commented on her appreciation of a different approach, pointing out the projection of a walrus in the Arctic. She said, “I like how there are parts of the image that are not concrete and in doing so, it shows the concept of a temporal subject even more.”

For there are no guides to Seely’s exhibition, its meaning truly depends on the participation and engagement of the audience. It is not an exhibit that we as viewers could simply pass by nor one where we can expect it to do the work for us. It sometimes leads to frustration while viewing inexplicable images, but as Bradley said, pointing out the projection in the corner, “If you do do go so far as to lie down, then you do start to have a different perspective.” 


This article was published by The Carletonian. 

Perlman Museum Takes the Plunge with New Arctic Exhibit

Perlman Museum Takes the Plunge with New Arctic Exhibit
Jennifer Kwon ’17

There have been heated debates on whether global warming is happening or not for the past few decades. It seems like Ken Tape’s “Then and Now: The Changing Arctic Landscape”, an exhibition displayed at the Kaemmer Family Gallery of the Perlman Teaching Museum at the Weitz Center from September 19th to November 19th, may have an answer.

The exhibition is comprised of three parts; the comparison of decades-old and present-day photographs at the same location and the vantage point, depicting the stark contrasts between the landscapes of then and now. It takes up a large portion of the exhibit, with a smaller section showing the history of Arctic Alaska and profiles of pioneering scientists. A computer stationed at the corner of the gallery offers a virtual tour of the Arctic through panoramas.

The repeat photos of the exhibit focus on the vegetation, warming permafrost, and shrinking glaciers to show the change, often dramatic, of the landscapes at the Arctic. Since the before photos are decades to a hundred year old, they are black and white photographs, whereas the contemporary photos are filled with bright colors, giving more warmth and liveliness of the scenes that have seemed desolate and deserted. The barely remaining colors of white in the recent photos ironically add vitality in the Arctic.

“Then and Now” is a traveling exhibit, which started from the University of Alaska Museum of the North, that arrived at Carleton College at the same time Ken Tape, the curator and the photographer of the exhibit, returned to campus. Fifteen years after graduating from Carleton in 1999, Tape came back to teach a class titled, ‘Climate Variability and High Latitude Ecosystems’ in the Geology department.

Professor Tape poses outside the Weitz Center (Photo: Jessica Lartigue)

“It was a couple of years ago, around the time the museum opened in 2011, when this (exhibition) came to my attention,” Laurel Bradley, the director and curator in the Perlman Teaching Museum said. “I noticed it was by a Carleton alum and it was also a topic that is of broad interest on campus so I thought, okay sure. I later got in touch with Ken, after signing the contract, who got in touch with Mary Savina in the Geology department to teach a class here.”

According to Bradley, Tape is not only a photographer but acts more of a curator, coming up with the concept and incorporating photographs of other scientists’ into his exhibition for a more extensive collection. He also spent a great deal of time tracking down the old photographs, almost eight years, while completing his postgraduate studies at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

Not a lot of scientists enter, or even consider of doing so, the field of art but his years as a college student at Carleton helped him explore the seemingly opposite fields. “Part of Carleton’s training is not to draw too many boundaries, so I have never thought of science and art being mutually exclusive,” Tape said.

Unfortunately, he did not have a chance to get into the field of photography until after graduating from Carleton. “I tried to get into black and white photography class at Carleton and I finally got into in senior year, spring term,” Tape said, “It turned out that I had missing credentials to fulfill to graduate, and so I had to drop the photography class and take another independent study class instead.”

The exhibit itself only shows the changes that happened in the Arctic, mainly northern Alaska, but its meaning goes beyond the photographs. Since the Arctic circle plays a huge role in balancing the heat in the planet, changes there means there are continuing changes elsewhere and implies that there are more to come.

Even though the exhibit only displays the change of the landscapes, there were quite a few places, according to Tape, where differences were barely noticeable, if not almost identical from before, that weren’t able to make it through the exhibit. “When you go to the Arctic, you get a sense that the place is timeless, that it is not really changing very much,” he commented. “Indeed that is true in a lot of places. But that’s what makes the photos that have changed interesting since there is no man-made changes in the Arctic, unlike other places. There is no reason for it to change, unless the climate is changing.”

There is no admission fee for the exhibition. Museum hours are 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Monday to Wednesday; 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Thursday and Friday; 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. For more information, visit online at go.carleton.edu/museum or contact Laurel Bradley, director and curator of the Perlman Teaching Museum, at 507-222-4342. For more photographs, visit online at www.arcticcirclephoto.com or purchase the book ‘The Changing Arctic Landscape’ by Ken Tape on sale at the museum for 30 dollars. 



This article was published by The Carletonian.