In 1968, a young Park Chul, about to enter Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, was advised by a friend to study Spanish because it would be the language of the future.

While Spanish did not eclipse English as the lingua franca of business, diplomacy and politics, it did find its place as the second most used language in terms of native speakers with almost 400 million Spanish speakers in 21 countries and is one of the six official languages of the United Nations.

For Park who is now the president of the university where he studied four decades ago, the Spanish language paved his career path.

The Spanish government and King Juan Carlos I, bestowed onto Park his third decoration, the Encomienda de Isabel la Catolica (Order of Isabel the Catholic) on Monday for his work in bridging the language divide between Spain and Korea.

“We honor him not only for his personal and academic merits, but also for his extraordinary work on Spanish history and culture,” said Spanish Ambassador Luis Arias-Romero.

Park was one of the first people Arias-Romero met when he came to head the Spanish Embassy in Seoul several months ago.

“One of my first readings was his work on the epistolary testimonies of the Spanish Jesuit Gregorio de Cespedes,” Park said.

Park explained that Cespedes was the first European to set foot on Korean soil in 1593, over 70 years before Dutch sailor and bookkeeper Hendrick Hamel wrote the first accounts of the Joseon Dynasty.

“My research on Gregorio de Cespedes served as momentum to reveal the first contact between Korea and Spain to the world, leading to the establishment of the Cespedes Memorial Hall in 1992 in his hometown, the city of Villanueva de Alcardete in Toledo, Spain,” explained Park.

To mark the 400th year of his arrival in Korea, the Korean government in 1993 erected the Cespedes Monument in the port city of Jinhae, South Gyeongsang Province, where he first set foot in this country.

More recently, the city of Madrid named the Street of Cespedes last year, “which has significant implications in many aspects. The records that Priest Cespedes made in Korea were valuable materials to introduce Korea to Europe for the first time,” said Park.

By Yoav Cerralbo (yoav@heraldcorp.com)