1. Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha met separately with Foreign Minister of Australia Julie Bishop and Foreign Minister of New Zealand Gerry Brownlee on August 6 on the sidelines of the ASEAN-related foreign ministerial meetings 2017 (August 6-8, Manila, the Philippines), and exchanged views on ways to strengthen substantive cooperation with the two countries, the situation on the Korean Peninsula, and the new ROK government’s North Korea policy.

2. Minister Kang took note that Australia and New Zealand, which share with the ROK strategies and basic values, including democracy, market economy, and rules-based order, have been establishing strong cooperative relations with the ROK in a range of areas, including foreign affairs, national defense, and economic and trade affairs. She also reaffirmed the new ROK government’s commitment to take its relations with the two countries, the ROK’s major cooperation partners in the Indo-Pacific era, a notch higher, and thereby expand its diplomatic horizons.

o Minister Kang and her Australian counterpart Bishop, the first female Foreign Ministers of their respective countries, agreed to cooperate more closely to enhance the relations between the two countries. They especially agreed to further strengthen strategic communications through the third ROK-Australia Foreign and Defense Ministers’ (2+2) meeting, to be held in Seoul in October this year.

o Minister Kang and her New Zealand counterpart Brownlee expressed satisfaction over the fact that substantive cooperation between the two countries in the defense industry and people-to-people exchanges is underway with no difficulties, and agreed to further strengthen the bilateral relations through high-level exchanges, including visits by the leaders of the two countries.

3. Minister Kang pointed out that North Korea’s irresponsible provocations are posing a direct threat to not only the Korean Peninsula but also the entire international community, and agreed to work together more closely with Australia and New Zealand, the ROK’s traditional allies, to respond to threats from North Korea.

o Taking note that the UN Security Council adopted a new resolution containing stronger sanctions against North Korea in response to the recent provocations by the North, Minister Kang said that the international community should be united in faithfully implementing the resolution, and asked like-minded countries, including Australia and New Zealand, to support the ROK government’s policy to denuclearize North Korea and establish peace on the Korean Peninsula.

o Foreign Ministers Bishop and Brownlee said that as both Australia and New Zealand consider North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs a serious threat, the two countries will continue to actively support the ROK government’s efforts to resolve the issue.

4. By holding the bilateral meetings, Minister Kang deepened her ties with the Foreign Ministers of Australia and New Zealand, the ROK’s traditional allies which fought on the side of the ROK in the Korean War, as well as representative middle-power countries in the Pacific region. The meetings also laid the groundwork for taking the new ROK government’s middle-power diplomacy a notch higher by serving as an opportunity for the three countries to reaffirm their commitment to expand strategic collaboration and cooperation.


* unofficial translation