1. “A National Assembly forum on diplomacy with the people” successfully took place in the National Assembly building on September 3, declaring the year 2018 as the first year of “diplomacy with the people.” The event brought together some 150 people, including National Assembly Speaker Moon Hee-sang, Chairman Kang Seok-ho and six other members of the National Assembly’s Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee, and Minister of Foreign Affairs Kang Kyung-wha.

° The forum was hosted by Chairman Kang Seok-ho of the National Assembly’s Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee and co-organized by the Committee and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

2. National Assembly Speaker Moon Hee-sang, stressing that unless based on public trust, a state policy could hardly be driven forward, expressed pleasure over the National Assembly serving as the forum of the first round of discussions on “diplomacy with the people.”

° He went on to emphasize that although it would take time to build peace on the Korean Peninsula, the tide of the times toward peace on the Korean Peninsula would remain unchanged.

3. In his opening remarks, Chairman of the National Assembly’s Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee Kang Seok-ho, calling foreign and security affairs important areas to both ruling and opposition parties, voiced hope that the forum would serve as an opportunity to create a synergistic effect from cooperation between the people-representing National Assembly and the government in implementing foreign policy.

° The Chairman stated that the National Assembly would seek to broaden the diplomatic horizon of the Republic of Korea in the fields of diplomacy and unification and to boost parliamentary exchanges with foreign countries in utmost efforts to win support for the Republic of Korea from the international community.

4. In her congratulatory remarks, Minister Kang Kyung-wha stressed that the people are at the center of representative democracy and “diplomacy with the people” pursued by the National Assembly and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, respectively. She added that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will pay attention to what people have to say and implement diplomacy more humbly and in a way that is in accordance with common sense and expectations of the people.

° The Minister asked that now that the first year of “diplomacy with the people” was declared, the National Assembly support the efforts to conduct “people- and national interests-centered diplomacy with the people” and hold the forum on a regular basis.

5. In the forum that followed the opening session, professor at Seoul National University Kim Seok-ho delivered a keynote presentation on “ways for people to take part in the foreign policy process,” followed by a free discussion among experts from the academia and the National Assembly as well as general public.

° The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will build its own model based on what was discussed at the forum and mull over the possibility of inviting people to take part in the foreign policy-making and –implementing processes.

6. The forum is seen to have served as an opportunity to win broader support from the people for the “diplomacy with the people” policy and explore ways for them to take part in diplomacy; and to have built a framework for cooperation between the National Assembly and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in implementing “diplomacy with the people.”

* unofficial translation