1. On the occasion of the Munich Security Conference 2019, Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha met bilaterally with High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini on February 15 for a discussion on ways to step up the Republic of Korea-European Union cooperation on the back of the outcome of the bilateral summit talks held in Brussels, Belgium, in October 2018 and the current situation on the Korean Peninsula.

2. The Minister and the High Representative, calling the ROK-EU summit talks in Brussels in 2018 successful, agreed to faithfully implement the measures agreed upon at the talks and thereby to further deepen and advance the strategic partnership between the two sides.

3. The Minister and the High Representative shared with each other assessments of the current situation on the Korean Peninsula, agreeing to remain highly cooperative with each other in order for a complete denuclearization and a lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula to be achieved through advances in inter-Korean and United States-Democratic People’s Republic of Korea relations in a virtuous circle.

° Minister Kang, placing hope on the forthcoming second US-DPRK summit as a significant opportunity to see meaningful progress toward a complete denuclearization and the establishment of peace on the Korean Peninsula, asked the EU to remain supportive and cooperative to that end.

° High Representative Mogherini voiced hope that the second US-DPRK summit would produce tangible progress toward denuclearization, reaffirming the EU’s all-out support and commitment to cooperation regarding the peace process on the Korean Peninsula. 

4. The Minister and the High Representative also exchanged views on progress in the negotiations on Brexit (the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the EU) and their outlooks; and agreed to continue working closely with each other regardless of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU.

5. The ROK-EU foreign ministerial meeting is seen to have served as a useful opportunity to discuss the direction of cooperation in following up on the bilateral summit talks held in October 2018 and ways to keep moving forward the cooperative ties between the two sides.

* unofficial translation