Press Briefing

Spokesperson and Deputy Minister for Public Relations Kim In-chul

March 12, 2019  14:30  KST 

Good afternoon. Let me start today’s briefing.

First, Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha will accompany President Moon Jae-in on his state visits to Brunei Darussalam, Malaysia and the Kingdom of Cambodia from March 10 to 16.

The President’s upcoming tour aims to accelerate the implementation of the “New Southern Policy” being actively pursued by the government of the Republic of Korea, and to discuss concrete and substantive ways to work together with the three countries.

The forthcoming visits also hold significance in that they will serve as an opportunity to obtain cooperation from the three countries to successfully host the ASEAN-ROK Commemorative Summit and the ROK-Mekong summit, to be held late this year.

Moving on to the next topic, Vice Foreign Minister Lee Tae-ho will attend the launching ceremony of the ROK-Pacific Islands Trade and Tourism Promotion Project, to be held at the Foreign Minister’s official residence on the evening of March 13.

The launching ceremony of the program, aimed at increasing economic cooperation and people-to-people exchanges between the ROK and Pacific Island countries, will bring together officials from tourism authorities of Pacific Island countries, businesspeople in the trade and tourism sectors, and the diplomatic corps in the ROK.

The program, a development cooperation project using the ROK-Pacific Islands Forum Cooperation Fund, is expected to help make more substantive progress in the relations between the ROK and Pacific Island countries.

Lastly, Deputy Minister for Political Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Yoon Soon-gu will visit the Republic of Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan from March 10 until 15, and hold policy consultations.

During his visits to the countries, Deputy Minister Yoon will engage in extensive discussions on key issues, including substantive cooperation, with Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, which are key cooperation partners in implementing the New Northern Policy, and also exchange views on the current situations on the Korean Peninsula and in Central Asia.

The upcoming visits are expected to serve as an opportunity to put into full gear the ROK government’s diplomatic diversification and New Northern Policy.

Thank you.

(A question-and-answer session followed.)

* unofficial translation