1. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, together with the Ministry of Justice, will hold “the 7th seminar on the Republic of Korea-Latin America public security cooperation” in Seoul on November 15 under the theme of “the future-oriented ROK-Latin America partnership in the area of correction.”

° The event will bring together correction-related officials from the ROK and high-level officials of five Latin American countries in the field.

※ The five Latin American countries: the Republic of El Salvador, the Republic of Panama, the Dominican Republic, the Republic of Honduras and the Republic of Costa Rica

2. The delegates from the participating countries will share their respective countries’ correctional policies and discuss specific ways to step up correctional cooperation between the ROK and Latin America.

° The opening ceremony of the seminar will feature opening remarks by Deputy-Minister for Overseas Koreans and Consular Affairs at the ROK Ministry of Foreign Affairs Lee Sang-jin, followed by welcoming remarks by Commissioner of the Korea Correctional Service of the Ministry of Justice Choi Kang-ju and congratulatory remarks by Director-General of Prisons of the Dominican Republic Tomas Holguin.

° Session I on “correctional policies of individual countries and their implementation” will be chaired by the head of the Correctional Policy Bureau of the Korea Correctional Service and feature presentations by top- or high-level correctional officials of the Korea Correctional Service and similar agencies of Panama, Honduras and Costa Rica.

° Session II on “ways to promote ROK-Latin America correctional cooperation” will be chaired by the head of the Security Policy Bureau of the Korea Correctional Service and consist of presentations by the head of the psychological treatment division of the Korea Correctional Service and the chiefs of the correctional agencies of El Salvador and the Dominican Republic.

※ On November 16, the officials will visit the eastern Seoul detention center and the Hwaseong correctional institution for vocational training to see for themselves how the ROK’s correctional facilities are run.

3. The forthcoming seminar is expected to offer an opportunity for the ROK government to convey its commitment to support efforts of Latin American countries to address public insecurity, one of their major issues; and to share with those countries its advanced system for correctional administration as well as its experiences in the prison management; and thereby contribute to stepping up substantive cooperation with Latin America in the field.

* unofficial translation