1. Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se met with Foreign Minister Harry Kalaba of Zambia, who was on an official visit to the Republic of Korea from June 20 to 22. The two top diplomats engaged in an extensive exchange of views on the ROK-Zambia relations; ways to boost high-level exchanges and substantive cooperation as well as to work together on the international stage; and the North Korean nuclear issue.

2. Minister Yun, welcoming Minister Kalaba’s first visit to the ROK, voiced hope that the visit will serve as an opportunity to take the bilateral relations to the next level in various fields.

° The Minister mentioned that the incumbent ROK government has attached significance to its diplomacy toward Africa since its launch in 2013, as demonstrated by President Park Geun-hye’s three-country Africa tour in May 2016 to seek a closer “partnership for mutual benefits and co-prosperity” between the ROK and Africa. He added that the ROK will continue cooperation with Africa.

3. The two Ministers agreed to expedite the conclusion of an agreement on investment promotion and protection, a basis for closer economic cooperation; to step up bilateral agricultural cooperation after Zambia applies to join the Korea-Africa Food and Agriculture Cooperation Initiative (KAFACI) in July and becomes a member afterwards; and to work more closely together in the field of development, including the promotion of maternal and child health.

4. The two top diplomats, sharing the view that North Korea’s fourth nuclear test and long-range missile provocation in early 2016 pose a grave threat to the security on the Korean Peninsula and in the international community, agreed to work closely with the international community in the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 2270.

° Minister Kalaba expressed a strong opposition to North Korea’s nuclear weapons development; urged North Korea to comply with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Safeguards Agreement and to denuclearize itself; and pledged to submit at an early date its report pursuant to UN Security Council Resolution 2270.

5. Immediately ahead of their meeting, the two Ministers attended the signing ceremony of the ROK-Zambia Agreement Concerning Loans from the Economic Development Cooperation Fund and Arrangement Concerning a Loan from the Economic Development Cooperation Fund for the Establishment of Public Safety Information System Project.

° Under the ROK-Zambia EDCF Agreement and Arrangement, some 41 million US dollars will be channeled into the project to set up a “public safety information system” in Zambia, the ROK’s first EDCF project with Zambia.

6. The ROK-Zambia Foreign Ministers’ meeting and the signing of the EDCF agreements is seen to have served as an opportunity to step up bilateral substantive cooperation, including on economy and development, and to expand the supportive basis in Africa for the ROK’s position on North Korean nuclear issue.


* unofficial translation