Gabon, a former French colony, situated at the central part of southwest Africa, became independent as a repubic in 1960. It has a population of 125 milion which comsists of more than forty tribes speaking French as their common language. With a climate of high temperature and humidity, the country is rich in natural resources such as wood, manganese, uranium, petroleum and iron. With an area of 267.000sq. km., 1.2 times that of the Korean peninsula, about 80 percent of it covered with woods. Gabon produces and exports a large quantity of "okoume", the lumber that is used to manufacture veneer. Its per capita income, about 5 times that of ten years ago, exceeds 3,000 dollars today, making it one of the richest countries of Africa.

Since 1962, when the diplomatic relationship was first extablished between the country and Korea, Gabon has been actively supprting our position in international forums such as the UN, and meetings of nonaligned countries. The relations between the two countries have rapidly been improving in political, economic and cultural areas especially since President Bongo's visit to Korea in 1975 and President Chun's visit to Gabon in 1982.