1. Vice Foreign Minister Lim Sung-nam visited Argentina and Brazil, major countries in South America, and held bilateral meetings as part of efforts to implement one of the new ROK government’s key foreign policies, “diversification of diplomacy.” In the meetings, Vice Minister Lim engaged in in-depth discussions on major issues, including high-level exchanges; ways to respond to North Korea’s missile provocation and strengthen cooperation on the North Korean nuclear issue; ways to increase trade, investment and substantive cooperation in other areas; and cooperation on the global stage.

o On November 28, Vice Minister Lim held the seventh ROK-Argentina high-level policy consultation with his Argentine counterpart Daniel Raimondi in Buenos Aires.

o On December 1, Vice Minister Lim met bilaterally with his Brazilian counterpart Abbott Galvão in Brasilia.

2. Regarding North Korea’s long-range ballistic missile launch, the two sides shared the view that North Korea’s repeated provocations pose a serious threat not only to the Korean Peninsula, but to peace and safety in the world, and agreed to continue cooperation to completely denuclearize North Korea, including the thorough implementation of Security Council resolutions on North Korea.

3. Vice Minister Lim welcomed the decision of Argentina and Brazil to work to announce the beginning of negotiations on an ROK-MERCOSUR (Southern Common Market) trade agreement (TA) at the 11th WTO ministerial conference (December 10-13). Vice Minister Lim expressed hope that the trade agreement will be concluded as soon as possible following smooth negotiations.

4. Vice Minister Lim stressed that the Winter Olympics, which symbolizes global peace and the unity of mankind, takes place in Pyeongchang, Korea, the only divided country in the world. He also asked for active participation from Argentina and Brazil to make sure that the PyeongChang Olympic Winter Games become an Olympics that embodies peace in conformity with the spirit of the “Olympic Truce” resolution, adopted at the UN General Assembly.

5. In addition, Vice Minister Lim expressed appreciation for the efforts of the governments of Argentina and Brazil, which actively conducted search operations when the Stellar Daisy sank. He also asked the Brazilian side to continue the search operations in the water near the Brazilian island where the accident occurred.

6. On November 28, Vice Minister Lim met with Natalia Zang, head of the planning committee for the 2018 G20 Buenos Aires Summit, and discussed concrete ways to work together towards the success of the G20 summit.

7. On November 29, Vice Minister held a meeting with representatives from Korean companies and community in Sao Paulo, in which he learned about the challenges facing the companies operating in Sao Paulo, the largest business city in Latin America, and offered words of encouragement to Korean residents there.

8. Vice Minister Lim’s visit to South America, which marked the first visit to Latin America by a vice foreign minister-level official since the launch of the new ROK government, is expected to expand the ROK’s diplomatic horizons through the diversification of diplomacy, one of the government’s key foreign policies. In particular, as both the G20 summit (Argentina) and the APEC summit (Chile) will take place in Latin America in 2018 and 2019, respectively, the visit is also expected to contribute to further strengthening the ROK’s diplomacy towards Latin America through the summits.


* unofficial translation