Press Briefing
Spokesperson and Deputy Minister for Public Relations Cho Tai-young
Oct. 9, 2012 14:30 KST


Good afternoon. Let me start today’s briefing.

Today I will make two announcements and then take your questions.

The first one is on a forum between the Republic of Korea and Germany.

The 11th ROK-Germany Forum will be held in Goseong, Gangwon-do, from October 11 to 12.

The ROK-Germany Forum is a consultative channel through which figures from political, government, financial, media, and academic circles discuss ways to develop bilateral relations.

The Forum was established in 2002, and has since been held in the ROK and Germany on an annual and rotational basis.

This year’s forum will deal with the impact of a financial crisis on the regional economy and energy diplomacy.

The event will be co-hosted by the Korea Foundation and Ewha Woman’s University of the ROK, and the Germany-Korea Forum of Germany.

The Forum will bring together some 60 figures from the two countries, including President Kim Hak-joon of the Northeast Asian History Foundation, President Kim Woosang of the Korea Foundation, President Kim Sun-wuk of Ewha Woman’s University, and Deputy Finance Minister Koschyk of Germany.

Moving on to the second announcement, the 2nd ROK-EU High-level Political Dialogue will take place in Brussels, Belgium, on October 12.

The ROK and the EU delegations to the meeting will be led by First Vice Foreign Minister Ahn Ho-young and Helga Maria Schmid, Deputy Secretary-General of the European External Action Service, respectively.

The ROK-EU High-level Political Dialogue deals with bilateral issues, regional situations and multilateral cooperation measures.

In the forthcoming meeting, the two sides will discuss ways to develop their strategic partnership; piracy eradication, disarmament, non-proliferation and other security issues; and situations on the Korean Peninsula as well as in East Asia and the Middle East.

On the sidelines of the Dialogue, Vice Minister Ahn will meet with Dirk Achten, Secretary-General of the Federal Public Service Foreign Affairs of Belgium, on October 11.

This is all for my opening statement.

[Q&A]

Q: US presidential candidate Mitt Romney delivered a speech on his foreign policy vision on October 8. What do you make of his foreign policies?

Secondly, with regard to the ROK government’s decision not to extend the currency swap with Japan, I would like to know about the position of the Foreign Ministry.

A: In terms of your first question, I deem it inappropriate for the ROK Foreign Ministry to comment or voice its position on views of a US presidential candidate.

In answer to your second question, it is my understanding that after consultations between the finance authorities including the central banks of the ROK and Japan, it was determined not to extend the currency swap for purely economic reasons.

Q: The transcript of the inter-Korean summit held during the former administration is raising controversy. What, if any, does the Foreign Ministry know in this regard?

A: There is nothing that the Foreign Ministry is aware of.

Thank you.

* unofficial translation