1. Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha attended the “2018 World Korean Community Leaders Convention,” held at the Lotte Hotel World in Jamsil on October 5, and offered words of encouragement to 405 Korean community leaders from 75 countries around the world.

※ The 2018 World Korean Community Leaders Convention takes place from October 3 till 6 in conjunction with a “ceremony marking World Korean Day (October 5),” a legal anniversary.

2. In her luncheon remarks, Minister Kang welcomed the Korean community leaders, who visited their homeland on behalf of overseas Koreans, and commended the efforts of the Korean community leaders, who had taken the lead in developing Korean communities, and in raising the status of the Republic of Korea on the global stage.

3. Minister Kang stressed that 7.4 million overseas Koreans were important partners in building a peaceful and prosperous Korean Peninsula, and said that the ROK government was committed to achieving complete denuclearization, and establishing peace on the Korean Peninsula. She also asked overseas Koreans to actively support the ROK government’s efforts to write a new history of peace and prosperity, and to pool their wisdom to do so.

4. Furthermore, Minister Kang said that externally, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was working to expand the ROK’s diplomatic horizons to Eurasia, ASEAN and the Republic of India through the “New Northern Policy” and the “New Southern Policy,” and domestically, the Ministry was pursuing diplomacy practiced in communication with the people through “diplomacy with the people.” She added that the Ministry would continue to communicate more actively with Korean communities abroad.

5. Minister Kang also said that the Foreign Ministry would expand infrastructure to protect the safety, and rights and interests of overseas Koreans, and to provide sufficient consular assistance to them at any time at any place. She asked the Korean community leaders to actively play leading roles in nurturing the future leaders of Korean communities, and in fostering unity and reconciliation among Korean communities.

6. The “World Korean Community Leaders Convention”, hosted by the Overseas Koreans Foundation, and sponsored by the Foreign Ministry, is a representative event for overseas Koreans that has taken place every year since 2000. It has contributed to bringing together the capabilities of 7.4 million overseas Koreans, establishing ethnic Korean networks, and strengthening their bond with their homeland.

* unofficial translation