1. During her visit to Belgium for the meeting of the EU’s Informal Foreign Council on March 19, Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha met bilaterally with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg on March 19, during which the two sides exchanged views on the Republic of Korea-NATO relations and the situation on the Korean Peninsula.

2. Minister Kang shared with the Secretary-General the recent progress in the inter-Korean relations; informed him of the ROK government’s efforts to use the momentum of inter-Korean dialogue built around the PyeongChang Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games to create a new milestone toward peace on the Korean Peninsula; and asked NATO to remain supportive of such endeavors by the ROK government.

° Secretary-General Stoltenberg hailed the recent progress in the situation on the Korean Peninsula; commended President Moon Jae-in and the ROK government for their efforts in the lead-up to the decision to hold inter-Korean and US-North Korea summit talks; and mentioned NATO’s plan to render strong cooperation toward the success of those summit talks.

° The Secretary-General reaffirmed NATO’s position that the international community should continue enforcing sanctions and putting pressure on North Korea in a bid to induce the North to take tangible steps toward denuclearization.

3. In addition, the two sides agreed to work more closely together on counter-terrorism and cyber security based on the bilateral “Individual Partnership and Cooperation Programme (IPCP),” which had been revised during Secretary-General Stoltenberg’s visit to the ROK in November 2017.

※ The IPCP is a document in which the framework of bilateral cooperation between NATO and its partner country is stipulated. The ROK-NATO IPCP was concluded in September 2012 and revised in November 2017.

* unofficial translation