1. On November 13, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Lee Tae-ho met with President of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) Paik Jin-hyun, who is on a visit to the Republic of Korea to attend an ROK-ITLOS academic conference on the international law of the sea (November 14-15, Seoul), and discussed the current state of cooperation between the ROK and ITLOS, and the ROK-ITLOS academic conference on the international law of the sea.

2. Vice Minister Lee took note of the activities carried out by President Paik, who became the first Korean to be elected as ITLOS President, and especially expected the academic conference on the law of the sea, to be co-hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and ITLOS this year, to facilitate academic and people-to-people exchanges between the ROK and ITLOS, and to contribute to increasing people’s awareness of the importance of the international law of the sea in the ROK.

3. President Paik gave a brief overview of the work of ITLOS, and expressed appreciation for the interest and support the ROK government had shown regarding ITLOS and the international law of the sea, including by holding the ROK-ITLOS academic conference on the law of the sea.

4. In addition, Vice Minister Lee and President Paik discussed ways to develop the ITLOS education and training program for capacity-building in developing countries, being supported by the ROK.

o Vice Minister Lee also said that the ROK would continue a range of activities to strengthen its cooperation with ITLOS, and actively take part in the process to make international maritime regulations, and implement them.

* unofficial translation