Though Canada established formal diplomatic relations with the Republic of Korea in 1964, there was no embassy in Seoul until 1973. That year D. Gordon Longmuir was dispatched to Seoul to help open that embassy and serve as First Secretary and Consul, as well as Chargé d’Affaires until a resident ambassador arrived early in 1974. He stayed in Seoul until 1976. Among the more pressing duties of the embassy while he was stationed there was ensuring adequate safeguards for a nuclear reactor Korea was considering buying from Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL). At first Canada, somewhat distrustful of President Park Chung Hee, was uncertain whether or not to provide Park with such a nuclear power plant. However, after the ROK agreed to ratify the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty, the deal was signed and Korea eventually went on to purchase a total of four Canadian-designed CANDU nuclear reactors. As a representative of the Canadian government, Longmuir was in the audience on August 15, 1974, when a disgruntled Korean-Japanese attempted to assassinate Park but shot and killed Park’s wife instead. He also watched as, under Park’s leadership, the Korean economy began its rapid march to modernization while the government resisted pressure for democratization. The embassy occasionally had to intervene on behalf of some activist Canadian missionaries who felt that urban workers were being asked to pay too heavy a price for Korea’s economic progress.
