Helena man serves as honorary diplomat to South Korea

Bob Swartout wears several hats. He's a Carroll College history professor and the author of seven books. He's also an ambassador of sorts, serving in a position called honoroary consul for the Republic of Korea.

As such, Swartout is something of a diplomat for the Asian nation, acting as an extension of Korea's official presence in the U.S. and helping with relations on many fronts between Korea and Montana.

Swartout is one of five honorary consuls the Montana Department of Commerce has identified who live in Montana and represent foreign countries. (A sixth, representing Kyrgyzstan, is in the approval process.)

An American citizen, he does have several ties to the country: Swartout served three years in the Peace Corps in Korea teaching English and has spent years there since; four of his seven books are on Korean history; and he married a Korean woman.

"I am appointed by the Korean government with the approval of the Korean assembly and the U.S. State Department," he said.

With the nearest consular office for many nations being in Seattle, Minneapolis, San Francisco or in some cases as far away as Washington, D.C., having a presence in Montana can make dealing with everything from passports to cultural exchanges a little easier.

"While the title is 'honorary consul,' that's something of a misnomer because they do have diplomatic duties," said Mark Bisom, head of the Commerce Department's International Trade & Relations Bureau.

Swartout said his representation of the Korean government can be parceled into four main areas:

n The political arena, where Swartout will assist when Korean officials visit Montana to meet with the Commerce Department, or for other meetings, like the trade talks that took place last summer at Big Sky.

n The cultural and educational arena, where Swartout will work with colleges across the state, encouraging exchange programs for students or teachers.

n Community relations: Swartout said there are around 1,000 Koreans or Korean-Americans living in Montana, and last year he helped facilitate the organization of a statewide association for the group.

n In the economic arena, Swartout promotes closer business ties between Montana and Korea. A third the size of Montana, Korea is one of the top four destinations for Montana agricultural products and also ranks high in the import of Treasure State manufactured goods.

"Korea is much more important to Montana's economic well-being than most Montanans realize," he said.

Honorary consuls are in an interesting position of being American citizens yet representing foreign interests.

"If I ever felt there were a conflict, I would immediately resign the position," Swartout said. "I do feel that as the honorary consul for Korea, I represent the Republic of Korea. I'm not an American diplomat, I'm a Korean diplomat. I represent Korean needs in Helena and the state of Montana."

A consul's responsibilities may vary by the country each represents and what it's interests are in Montana.

For James Sites, a Billings attorney and the honorary consul for Norway for the last two decades, much of his work is related to the large number of Montanans of Norwegian heritage.

"We all, to a degree, speak to what the country we represent is looking for," he said. "In the case of Norway, a lot of the work I've been involved in has been Norwegian heirs and probate matters."

Sites said the Norwegian honorary consuls for North Dakota and South Dakota are attorneys as well, due to the large number of people of Norwegian descent in the Great Plains.

The job can also entail mundane tasks like passport and visa inquiries, providing tourism information and handling translation requests.

"It's really bilateral," Sites said. "Our job is not only to represent that government, but also to advocate the cause of Montana in terms of trade relations, tourism potential, things of that nature."

Chantel Moser of Missoula, honorary consul for France, said her work is mainly with passports, voting and other routine issues through the country's consular office in San Francisco.

Shirley Ball lives in Nashua, just east of Glasgow and about 60 miles south of the Canadian border. As Canada's first honorary consul in Montana, she reports to the consular office in Denver, which was established a few years ago.

Ball said her work has involved talking to people on both sides of the border about passport issues as the two countries consider the need for more documentation for international travelers. Agriculture and energy issues are also on her agenda, she said, along with legislative exchanges between Canadian provincial officials and their state-level counterparts in the U.S.

Swartout said the time consumed by the job varies. At times like last year's free trade talks, it can feel like a full-time job. At other times, two or three weeks may go by with just a phone call or two, he said.

The state's newest honorary consul is Kent Madin, whose Bozeman firm, Boojum Expeditions, organizes adventure trips to far-flung destinations, including Mongolia. Madin became the Asian nation's honorary consul last month.

"My particular interest in the country comes from the fact that Montana and the Northern Rockies and Mongolia have very similar landscapes," he said. With similar geography but with Montana being far more economically developed, a relationship with the Treasure State "is in some ways a look into the future for them."

Shortly after his appointment, Madin inquired with the Commerce Department about which other countries have honorary consuls here. That led to a meeting this week and the creation of the Montana Consulor Corps, "somewhat of a loose organization where they can share information," according to Bisom, and possibly share a presence on the Commerce Web site.

John Harrington can be reached at 447-4080 or john.harrington@helenair.com.