1. Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha will attend a meeting of the EU’s Informal Foreign Council on March 19 at the invitation of the EU.

° Foreign Minister Kang’s participation in the Informal Foreign Council meeting, the first of its kind by a Foreign Minister of the Republic of Korea, reflects the EU’s keen attention to and support on the ROK-EU cooperation as well as issues concerning the Korean Peninsula.

※ On the heels of the informal meeting of EU foreign ministers on February 15 and 16, High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Mogherini of the EU announced the EU top diplomats’ decision to invite their ROK counterpart to the next meeting of the Informal Foreign Council.

※ The EU’s Informal Foreign Council, which holds a meeting on a monthly basis chaired by High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Mogherini and bringing together foreign ministers of the 28 EU member states, invites figures of non-EU countries to its meetings only when there are important issues.

2. At the forthcoming EU meeting, Minister Kang will offer a detailed explanation to the participating EU foreign ministers the current situation on the Korean Peninsula and the progress in the inter-Korean relations, asking for the EU’s ceaseless support for and cooperation on the ROK government’s efforts toward a peaceful resolution of the North Korean nuclear issue.

° The Minister will also shed light on the overall ties between the ROK and the EU, which will mark in 2018 the 55^th anniversary of diplomatic relations; and discuss with the other top diplomats the direction of the ROK’s diplomacy and cooperation with Europe.

3. On the sidelines of the EU meeting, Minister Kang will meet and discuss with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg ways to step up the ROK-NATO cooperation and issues concerning the Korean Peninsula.

* unofficial translation