1. Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha met with Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Audrey Azoulay on Jeju Island on June 28, and exchanged views on ways to enhance substantive cooperation between the Republic of Korea and UNESCO.

※ Director-General Audrey Azoulay visited the ROK to attend the “13th Jeju Forum for Peace and Prosperity (June 26-28, Jeju).”

2. Minister Kang and Director-General Azoulay shared the view that the foundation for exchanges in the education, science, and cultural sectors needs to be established to ensure sustainable peace. Considering the latest situation on the Korean Peninsula, they also agreed to explore possible areas of cooperation between the two sides in the education, science, and cultural sectors to promote peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula.

o Minister Kang said that the recent inter-Korean and US-North Korea summits marked an important turning point in efforts to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula, and asked UNESCO to continue to play an important role in exchanges and cooperation with North Korea.

o Director-General Azoulay expressed UNESCO’s willingness to contribute to the peace and reconciliation process on the Korean Peninsula by participating in efforts to cooperate with North Korea in the areas of environmental preservation, joint management of water resources, and culture, and to provide support in the education sector in accordance with the spirit of UNESCO, which is the promotion of peace through cooperation in the fields of education and culture.

3. Minister Kang also stressed the importance of UNESCO as a specialized UN agency that realizes universal values, including human rights, and promotes a correct understanding of history, and took note of the role of the UNESCO Secretariat in the world heritage sector.

4. The meeting held during Director-General Azoulay’s first visit to the ROK since her inauguration served as an opportunity for the ROK and UNESCO to explore cooperation projects for North Korea which could be conducted within the framework of UNESCO.

* unofficial translation