1. Mr. Kwon Sei-joong, Ambassador for Arctic Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, will attend the 2019 Senior Arctic Officials (SAO) Meeting to take place in Hveragerði, the Republic of Iceland, on November 19-21, 2019.

° The eight Arctic states (the United States, the Russian Federation, Canada, the Kingdom of Norway, the Republic of Finland, the Republic of Iceland, the Kingdom of Denmark and the Kingdom of Sweden) established the Arctic Council in 1996 and has since led Arctic governance. The Arctic Council holds two SAO meetings on an annual basis and the Ministerial Meeting on a biennial basis.

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° Since its formal accession to the Arctic Council as an observer in May 2013, the Republic of Korea has actively participated in SAO and Ministerial Meetings. In addition, the country is participating in various cooperation projects with the Arctic Council’s working groups for the protection and sustainable development of the Arctic environment.

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2.  This is the first SAO meeting to be hosted by Iceland as the new Chair of the Arctic Council. The meeting will discuss issues such as marine cooperation within the Arctic Council and collaboration between the Arctic Council and the Arctic Economic Council.

°  As an observer, Korea will attend the special thematic session between the Arctic Council’s working groups and observer countries on November 19 and the working breakfast between the Chair of the Arctic Council and observers on November 20. At these meetings, Korea will participate in discussions on ways for the observers to increase their contribution and strengthen their roles, and seek to build Arctic cooperation networks with the eight member states of the Arctic Council.