Simon Claridge welcomed Duncan Roberts into the studio on Monday morning for the regular Delano’s Top of the Week slot on the Ara City Radio breakfast show.

Their conversation focused on the current economic mission being led by Crown Prince Guillaume and minister of the economy Franz Fayot to Korea.

The focus of the mission includes digitalisation, especially smart cities and smart mobility, as well as space (the two countries signed and MoU on Monday) and a visit to the new Rotarex production plant making very high purity equipment for the semiconductor market.

Duncan and Simon also talked about the Korean community in Luxembourg--there are close to 200 Koreans living here--and how Korean tech and space companies are attracted to the grand duchy’s vibrant startup scene. There are also plenty of investment and fintech companies in Luxembourg, using the grand duchy as a gateway to Europe.

Interest in the Korean language and culture has exploded in Europe in recent years and the opening in September of a Korean culture house is testimony to the impact in Luxembourg of K-pop, Korean TV series like Squid Game and Korean cinema led by the likes of Parasite director Bong Joon-ho and the veteran Park Chan-wook.

Tips for the week

As usual, the Top of the Week slot also provides listeners with some “what’s on” tips for the coming week. This week Duncan picked the ExpoGast fair and Culinary World Cup at LuxExpo the Box, the Power Of Gender Inclusion conference at Lhoft featuring a keynote speech from Paulette Lenert, and the album release concert by the Giles Grethen Quartet in Bertrange on 3 December.

Duncan’s music pick for this week was Children Of The Empire by Weyes Blood from her new album And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow.

Tune in again next week Monday around 8.30am on Ara City Radio (87.8 - 102.9 -105.2 FM) or listen to the podcast on Delano.