Under the cooperation between the Royal Academy of Cambodia and the National Research Council for Economics, Humanities and Social Sciences of the Republic of Korea, has brought me to the Republic of Korea on March 26, 2023, together with the head of the Royal Academy of Cambodia and 19 other researchers from that institution. The partner who invited us to come to Korea for a working visit gave us a tour of smart agricultural fields and other farms that employ contemporary technology to advance their operations on the first day of our stay.

Following the tour, I realized that the farming land in Korea is not as nice as the land in Cambodia, nor is the quality of the Korean land as good as the land in Cambodia. So why is their agriculture so advanced?

Let's focus on the agricultural sector for a moment: I saw that the Korean government has offered young Korean citizens who want to use Start Up to begin investing in agriculture a very favorable loan during the speaker's presentation on their smart farming. At the initial step of development, government assistance to farmers is crucial.

Another observation comes to my mind and it saddens me to learn that young Cambodians from the countryside have spent a lot of money to travel to Phnom Penh, Cambodia, in order to study the Korean language in the hope that they may one day have the opportunity to find employment in Korea. Their reality in Korea is completely different from their hope in Cambodia.

When a family in rural Cambodia manages to arrange for their son and daughter to work in South Korea, word quickly spreads throughout the hamlet and commune. Several relatives will attend the person's departure from the airport for their place of employment in Korea.

Several Cambodian laborers who had come to work in Korea began to understand that their entire family would benefit if they worked just as hard back home as they had when they came to Korea. I find it unfortunate to learn that Cambodian employees must work and sleep at a farm house during the cold season, when it is extremely difficult to do either without a heater. Nonetheless, they must do both because that farm home is the only location they can stay and earn money.

Living far from family is not a wise decision, and many individuals will pick something else if they have the option. I'm startled and saddened to learn that Cambodian laborers must spend the winter months sleeping in a farm house. The Cambodian government has emphasized numerous times that although Korean employers pay Cambodian workers to maintain their families in Cambodia, these workers' difficulties and obstacles there should be acknowledged and addressed.

Due to the stark differences between what Korea and Cambodia have, my first day in Korea left me with conflicting feelings about Cambodia. The nature and land quality in Cambodia are excellent, so why can't we use them and manage them as efficiently as Korea and other nations across the world? High-ranking officials from Cambodia are frequently invited to visit industrialized nations in order to gain knowledge from those nations' experiences, but after they return home, they just keep quiet and don't share anything new about their travels.

In contrast to Cambodia, Korea's nature and environment are not as good, but their management and utilization of its natural resources is excellent. The city is really tidy, and there are bike lanes and sidewalks as well as clearly painted signs. I believe Cambodia likes to use the justification that we have only recently departed the path and that we must gradually develop our nation as an excuse to absolve themselves. There is only one excellent reason to overlook the officials' errors, but the truth is that Cambodia would only develop gradually. Since the wise learn from others' mistakes, Cambodia should take a cue from how Korea has developed its nation.

At the conclusion of my first visit, I was struck by the differences between Cambodia and Korea. In Korea, public management at the local level is very effective, local authorities respond quickly to problems in their areas, the infrastructure is well-developed and well-managed, and people have faith in the local police's ability to deal with them. Cambodia, what about it? It is difficult to say that Cambodian citizens trust local officials to solve their problems because their capacity is very limited and needs to be improved. Local authorities rarely arrive on time to solve problems, commune/Sangkat chiefs lack the funds to repair roads, and they frequently fail to respond to complaints.

Dr. Seun Sam is a policy Analyst bases in Cambodia. All views in this article are his own and does not reflect the whole views of the Royal Academy of Cambodia.