1. Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha, who is on a visit to New York, met with UN Secretary-General António Guterres on July 20 (local time).

2. Minister Kang expressed appreciation for the UN Secretary-General’s support for the ROK government’s Korean Peninsula policy. She also explained the situation on the Korean Peninsula, including the latest developments in inter-Korean relations, and asked for the UN’s continued support for efforts to completely denuclearize the Korean Peninsula, and to establish a lasting peace on the Peninsula.

※ “Achieving the peaceful de-nuclearization of the Korean Peninsula” has been named as one of the UN Secretary-General’s 12 priorities for 2018, announced in January this year.

o Secretary-General Guterres promised the UN’s active cooperation to improve inter-Korean relations, and to establish peace on the Korean Peninsula.

3. In addition, Minister Kang agreed on the need for the efforts to reform the UN, being led by Secretary-General Guterres to respond to global challenges more effectively, and expressed support for such efforts. She said that the ROK would continue to expand its contribution to efforts to solve a number of problems facing the international community, including climate change, terrorism, refugees, and humanitarian crises.

o Minister Kang especially spoke highly of the UN’s recent efforts to resolve the refugee issue, and said that amid public interest in the refugee issue in the ROK, its government was also looking into ways to better manage the refugee problem, and that it would continue to strengthen its contribution to the international community.

4. Meanwhile, Minister Kang met with new Under-Secretary-General DiCarlo of the UN Department of Political Affairs (DPA), and discussed the situation on the Korean Peninsula, as well as international peace and security issues. Minister Kang also met with Under-Secretary-General Lowcock of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), and exchanged views on the humanitarian situation in North Korea, and ways to provide related support.

5. Minister Kang’s meeting with the UN Secretary-General served as an opportunity to further strengthen close cooperative relations between the ROK and the UN, and to reaffirm collaboration with the UN to establish peace on the Korean Peninsula, and to deal with global challenges.

* unofficial translation