1. Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs Yoon Soon-gu, together with Political Director Levente Benko of the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, held the 14th Republic of Korea-Hungary policy consultation in Budapest, Hungary, on December 15. In their meeting, the two senior diplomats exchanged a wide range of views on ways to promote the relations and substantive cooperation between the two countries.

※ Hungary, the first country in the former Eastern Bloc that the ROK has established diplomatic relations with (February 1989), carries symbolic significance as the ROK’s first partner for northern diplomacy.

2. Deputy Minister Yoon mentioned that bilateral trade and investment is moving forward in a positive direction in terms of bilateral cooperation; and calling the recent investment by Samsung SDI and SK Innovation in an electric-car battery plant in Hungary a model case of investment for which Hungary’s skilled workforce is combined with the ROK’s state-of-the-art technology, asked for the Hungarian government’s attention and support in that regard.

° Director Benko, hailing the investment of Korean companies, which has created more than 20,000 jobs in Hungary, pledged continued attention and support.

※ Some 60 Korean companies have built presence in Hungary, with their total investment standing at approximately 600 million US dollars.

° The Director, bringing attention to Hungary’s recent adoption of the “10-year military modernization plan,” voiced hope to work closely with the ROK government on the project.

3. With the year 2019 to mark the 30th anniversary of the ROK-Hungary diplomatic relations, the two sides agreed to work closely together in arranging celebratory events for the anniversary. In addition, the two sides, hailing the ongoing increase in the number of Korean students and travelers in Hungary, agreed to double efforts to boost people-to-people and cultural exchanges.

4. Deputy Minister Yoon, bringing attention to the ROK government’s ongoing efforts to make the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games “Olympics of peace,” encouraged Hungary to take an active part in the sporting event. The Hungarian side, responding positively to the request, expressed wish for the success of the PyeongChang event and stated that Hungary will take an active part in it.

5. The 14th policy consultation between the ROK and Hungary, the former’s major cooperative partner in Central Europe and a robust investment destination of Korean companies of late, is seen to have served as an opportunity to discuss ways to step up substantive bilateral cooperation; to explore ways to increase cultural exchanges ahead of the 30th anniversary of the bilateral diplomatic relations in 2019; and thereby to set the future direction of cooperation.


* unofficial translation