1. Deputy Minister for Multilateral and Global Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Ham Sang-wook attended the 27^th Meeting of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Ministerial Council held on December 3-4 in a virtual format.

2. In the plenary session on December 4, Deputy Minister Ham shared Korea’s exemplary policies for disease prevention and control and experiences regarding response to COVID-19; introduced Korea’s Northeast Asia Cooperation Initiative for Infectious Disease Control and Public Health; and asked for the OSCE Participating States’ interest and support regarding the efforts to build a permanent peace regime on the Korean Peninsula.

3. At the Ministerial Council, the Participating States of the OSCE underscored the need to peacefully resolve the regional conflicts in Ukraine, Nagorno-Karabakh, and others; to enhance the arms control regime and confidence-building measures (CBMs); to promote human rights, democratic elections and freedom of speech; and to facilitate universal supply of COVID-19 vaccines.

4. Korea has been participating in the OSCE since 1994 as its Partner for Co-operation and actively pursuing cooperation with the OSCE, the world’s largest regional security organization, among others, by holding inter-regional conferences on cybersecurity and counter-terrorism since 2017.