SEOUL, October 02 (AJP) - A satellite company in South Korea's central city of Daejeon became home to Kazakhstan's newest diplomatic post on Friday, with its chairman serving as the Central Asian country's honorary consul.
Ambassador Asset Issenali presented the consular patent to Lee Sung-hee, chairman of CONTEC Space Group, at a ceremony at the company. Lee was formally appointed on May 12 to a five-year term covering Daejeon, South Jeolla Province and Jeonbuk State.
The opening came about two weeks after President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev's state visit to South Korea. In talks with President Lee Jae Myung on Sept. 15, the two presidents raised ties to a "future-oriented comprehensive strategic partnership," which Issenali said covers fields such as artificial intelligence, future mobility and the space industry.
"We are cooperating even in space now," the ambassador said in his welcoming remarks.
He cast the new office as more than a formality. "An honorary consulate is not simply an office or a new sign on a door. It should become a practical bridge between two nations, between two business societies, between people," Issenali said.
Turning to Lee, he promised the full support of the Kazakh government. "You have me, you have the embassy, you have the staff of the embassy, you have the entire foreign ministry, and I can say that you are now a Kazakh diplomat," he said.
Lee told AJP after the ceremony that he would focus on industrial cooperation. His first project targets Kazakh students in his district. He plans to invite those studying at Daejeon universities, including Woosong University, Hanbat National University and Chungnam National University, to hear their concerns and offer internships at CONTEC and its affiliate AP Satellite, along with links to jobs within the group and at its Korean partners.
Thanking the Kazakh government for its confidence in him, Lee said, "I will devote my utmost effort to living up to that trust and to contributing to the continuous friendship and cooperation between Korea and Kazakhstan."
The appointment grew out of CONTEC's work on Kazakh government projects, which put Lee in regular contact with the country's deputy prime minister, a vice minister, the head of its space agency and its ambassador in Seoul.
"The idea was to strengthen cooperation in space, especially the space industry, a little more through me," Lee said. "With that in mind, the ambassador proposed it first."
Lee traced the relationship to a space event in Uzbekistan in 2022, where he met members of Kazakhstan's Aerospace Committee and staff from Ghalam, a Kazakh space company. CONTEC signed its first contract in Kazakhstan in 2024 and has since supplied products and services to the country's space agency and national projects.
Issenali said Lee signed a deal with Ghalam and Kazakhstan's AI ministry during President Tokayev's visit.
Lee founded CONTEC in 2015 after years as a researcher at the Korea Aerospace Research Institute, the state-funded body that develops South Korea's satellites and rockets. The company receives data from satellites and launch vehicles through 17 ground stations in 11 countries, processes the imagery and sells analysis built with AI.
CONTEC Space Group has four companies. Two of them are listed, CONTEC and AP Satellite, a maker of satellites and satellite phones based in Seoul's Geumcheon district.
On Sept. 14, Kazakh Deputy Prime Minister Zhaslan Madiyev visited the group's Seoul facility. There, he and Lee discussed CONTEC investing in Ghalam, building a satellite component hub in Kazakhstan to serve Central Asia, the Middle East and Europe, and setting up a Kazakh subsidiary.
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