Peru’s Ambassador to Korea Jaime Pomareda underscored a slew of economic benchmarks his country had achieved over the last 10 years during a reception Monday to celebrate 192 years of Peruvian independence.

Peru has been flush with a decade of economic growth, with eight years of growth averaging 7 percent a year ― a stronger expansion than anywhere else in Latin America.

Pomareda rattled off a number of statistics illustrating the benefits of such economic success during a speech at the reception: higher per capita incomes, lower rates of poverty, lower infant mortality and longer lives for its citizens.

The reception also showcased the country’s traditional cuisine, including its signature drink, a pisco sour, a frothy tart concoction made from grape brandy, key lime and Angostura bitters.

Peru’s boom years in the 2000s were preceded by nearly two decades of civil conflict between the government and two leftist guerrilla groups, the Shining Path and the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement.

The Shining Path’s leader, Abimael Guzman, was captured in the 1990s and remains in prison.

Ironically, so too is the Peruvian president who presided over the last 10 years of that conflict, Alberto Fujimori, who is now serving a 25-year prison sentence for human rights abuses.

Peruvian-South Korean bilateral relations are currently at a high point. A Peruvian-South Korean free trade agreement went into force in 2012, when the two also signed a comprehensive and strategic partnership agreement.

(ephilip2011@heraldcorp.com)