1. First Vice Foreign Minister Lim Sung-nam will visit Moscow, Russia, on December 22 and 23 to preside over the 2016 meeting of the Republic of Korea’s mission chiefs to Eurasian countries and to attend the fifth ROK-Russia strategic dialogue.

2. At their 2016 meeting on December 22, the heads of 15 diplomatic missions, including in Russia, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and Mongolia, will discuss ways to promote the ROK government’s cooperation with Eurasian countries and boost public diplomacy in the region; to implement diplomacy toward Central Asian country, which will mark in 2017 the 25th anniversary of diplomatic relations with the ROK and the 80th anniversary of the settlement of ethnic Koreans in those countries; and to step up substantive cooperation between the ROK, and Russia and the CIS.

3. On December 23, Vice Minister Lim, together with First Deputy Foreign Minister Vladimir Titov of Russia, will hold the fifth ROK-Russia strategic dialogue, during which they will extensively exchange views on the ROK-Russia relations; ways to increase substantive cooperation; the North Korean nuclear issue and the situation on the Korean Peninsula; and global issues.

° At the strategic dialogue that will come to follow up on the ROK-Russia summit talks held in Vladivostok on September 3, the two sides will review the progress in the follow-up on various cooperation projects discussed at the summit talks, including those involving the development of Russia’s Far East.

° The Vice and Deputy Ministers will also exchange views on main regional and global issues and discuss ways to address the North Korean nuclear issue, including the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 2321, which was adopted on November 30.

4. The fifth ROK-Russia strategic dialogue is expected to serve as an opportunity to seek ways to step up substantive cooperation between the two countries in Russia’s Far East and to discuss ways to coordinate on the North Korean nuclear issue and other matters of mutual concern. As such, it will likely contribute to the development of the bilateral strategic partnership.


* unofficial translation