Press Briefing
Spokesperson and Deputy Minister for Public Relations Cho Tai-young
Dec. 10, 2013 14:30 KST


Good afternoon. Let me start today’s briefing.

Today, I have two announcements to make.

First, the third meeting of the Working Group for Economic Recovery and Development of the Friends of the Syrian People will take place in Seoul on December 12. The meeting will be hosted by the Republic of Korea with the support of the Group’s co-chairs Germany and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Its opening ceremony will be held from 9:00 till 9:40 a.m. and open to the press.

The meeting will bring together delegates from 50-odd countries, including the US, the UK and France, among the some 130 Friends of the Syrian People. The first of its kind took place in Abu Dhabi, UAE, in May 2012, followed by the second in Berlin, Germany, in September 2012. The forthcoming meeting in Seoul will mark the third of its kind.

In the meeting, the participants will discuss short-term ways to support Syria’s reconstruction efforts as well as long-term strategies to support the country’s economic reconstruction efforts after the resolution of its situation.

The meeting, which will come ahead of the Geneva II Conference on Syria set for January 22, 2014 to seek a political resolution to the situation in the country, is expected to provide significant momentum toward the resolution.

At the meeting, Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se will deliver opening remarks. Ten-odd delegates from the Syrian National Council (SNC), including Prime Minister Ahmad Tomeh, will also attend the meeting.

Moving on to the second and last announcement, the Foreign Ministry, together with the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, will host the Third Symposium on International Energy Cooperation in Seoul on December 11. The venue of the symposium is Marriott Hotel.

At the symposium, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee of the National Assembly Ahn Hong-jun and the Foreign Ministry’s Director-General for Global Economic Affairs Yun Kang-hyeon will deliver welcoming and opening remarks, respectively.

The symposium will bring together high-level energy-related government officials from Myanmar, Azerbaijan, Nigeria, Yemen, Brazil and Mexico. From the ROK, some 150 delegates from the government and public and private companies related to resource development and plant construction will attend the event. The symposium, in particular, will be attended by ten high-level government officials of Myanmar, including Minister of Energy Zay Yar Aung and Minister of Science and Technology Ko Ko Oo.

The symposium is expected to serve as a good opportunity to build a channel for energy and resource cooperation with Myanmar, whose recent reform and open-door policy has led to its emergence as a new promising market. At the event, delegates from the participating countries will speak about the energy and resource development policies and key relevant projects of their respective countries.

The ROK Foreign Ministry will hold one-on-one meetings between the foreign officials and Korean companies on the sidelines of the symposium. These meetings are expected to help build networks conducive to the entry of Korea’s energy companies into foreign markets.

This is all for my opening statement.


[Q&A]

Q: Following the recent ouster of North Korea’s Jang Seong-thaek, there have been detailed relevant reports, including that one of his aides who had managed his slush funds requested asylum in the ROK via China, but was rejected and so sought asylum in the US. Please tell us what the ROK government knows about those requests.

A: That is a very detailed and specific question. I am sorry that I am giving you such a brief answer to that, which is that the ROK Foreign Ministry knows nothing about them.

Q: According to foreign press reports, China and Japan agreed 20 years ago not to raise the issue of sexual slavery victims drafted for Japanese military during World War II. How do you expect this to affect Korean sexual slavery victims?

A: For starters, I know nothing about such China-Japan agreement or talks to that effect. Regardless, I don’t deem that that would affect Korean victims in any way.

Q: In 2011, the ROK’s Constitutional Court issued a ruling calling for the ROK government to actively seek a resolution to the issue of sexual slavery victims, right? Two years has passed since then. What has the ROK government been doing over that period of time, and how has Japan been responding?

A: As you may well know, the ROK government has been consulting with the Japanese government in a bid to resolve the issue, stressing to the Japanese side that this issue is one that must be settled. To our regret, though, this issue still remains unresolved. The ROK government will continue efforts for this issue to be settled promptly and in a way that is acceptable to the victims.

Q: My question is very similar to one of those asked moments ago. Did the ROK Foreign Ministry recently receive any request for asylum from a North Korean official?

A: Not that I know of.

I will conclude today’s briefing. Thank you.


* unofficial translation