1. On the occasion of the 2019 round of the Davos Forum (World Economic Forum Annual Meeting), Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha attended as a speaker a closed-door meeting held on January 25 under the theme of “Charting a New Future for the Korean Peninsula.”

2. The meeting was moderated by Senior Fellow of the Vienna Center for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation (VCDNP) and former UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs Angela Kane. Among the discussants at the meeting were State Secretary of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs of the Swiss Confederation Pascale Baeriswyl; Administrator of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) Achim Steiner; and Director-General and Chief Executive of the United Kingdom’s International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) John Chipman. In her remarks, Minister Kang explained the vision and the policy of the government of the Republic of Korea aimed at peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia.

° Minister Kang noted with appreciation that the three inter-Korean summits and the United States-Democratic People’s Republic of Korea summit in Singapore in 2018 had affirmed the firm commitment of the leaders of the ROK, the US and the DPRK to a complete denuclearization and the establishment of a lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula. She went on to underscore the need to make tangible progress in the peace process on the Korean Peninsula in 2019 on the back of such achievements.

- In particular, the Minister, calling it necessary to build a sustainable trust between the ROK and the DPRK as well as between the US and the DPRK, and to see tangible progress toward denuclearization in order for the current dialogue process to move further forward, voiced hope that the high- and working-level talks between the US and the DPRK, which had been resumed the week before, would lead to a second US-DPRK summit and thereby produce tangible results regarding denuclearization.

° Minister Kang, sharing with the other participants President Moon’s “Korean Peninsula peace initiative,” asked for keen attention to and support for the ROK government’s efforts toward peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula.

3. In the question-and-answer session that ensued, the panelists expressed their keen interest in and discussed in depth the ROK government’s overall policy toward North Korea, including its ways of seeking denuclearization, as well as its future vision for the Korean Peninsula.

° In particular, the participants drew a common understanding that peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula was essential for not only dispelling security threats but also paving the way for stable business and investing activities and fulfilling the economic potential of the Korean Peninsula; and expressed support for the ROK government’s efforts to accomplish a complete denuclearization and build peace.

* unofficial translation