1. The special envoys of the Republic of Korea government to the inauguration ceremony of President Mario Abdo of Paraguay -- Representatives Woo Sang-ho, Jin Sun-mee and Yun Jae-ok -- attended the ceremony held in Asuncion, Paraguay, on August 15.

2. Special envoy Woo Sang-ho handed over to President Abdo a letter from President Moon Jae-in, in which he expressed hope to further enhance friendly and cooperative ties and step up substantive cooperation between the ROK and Paraguay.

° Special envoy Woo, taking note of the steadily friendly and cooperative ties between the two countries, voiced hope that they would see their relations move further forward under the leadership of President Abdo.

° President Abdo extended appreciation to the special envoys for their congratulations, adding that he would like to visit the ROK if and when given the chance.

3. On August 14, the special envoys visited the advanced vocational training center that had been established in 2015 and had since been actively run by the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) as its signature development cooperation project with Paraguay. During the visit, the envoys saw for themselves how the training center was being run and offered encouragement to staff members and trainees.

° During the visit, special envoy Woo Sang-ho met with new Minister of Justice and Labor Carla Bacigalupo and was briefed on the progress in the ROK-Paraguay cooperation on vocational training and the new Paraguayan government’s employment policy.

4. Later in the day, the special envoys met with representatives from the local Korean community and companies to offer encouragement to the local Korean community and Korean enterprises operating in Paraguay and to learn about their challenges.

* unofficial translation