1. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, together with the Korea National Diplomatic Academy (KNDA), will hold the 2020 Northeast Asia Peace and Cooperation Forum (NAPC Forum) on the theme of “A New Vision for Regional Confidence Building” on December 3-4.

° The NAPC Forum is a key means of implementation for the project carried out by the government of the Republic of Korea to build a “Northeast Asia Peace and Cooperation Platform” with the aim to build up practices of multilateral dialogue and cooperation in Northeast Asia. This annual Forum is participated by scholars and experts of major countries in the region (the ROK, the People’s Republic of China, Japan, the United States, the Russian Federation and Mongolia) and dialogue partners from out of the region (the Commonwealth of Australia, New Zealand, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the European Union, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, and the United Nations) that are interested in and committed to peace and cooperation on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia.

2. In the upcoming Forum, the participants will explore the possibility of applying Europe’s experiences in building a security cooperation framework to Northeast Asia as well as the way forward in the mid to long term, and discuss ways for cooperation, including initial confidence-building measures among the ROK, China and Japan.

3. On December 3, the first day, the Forum will kick off with opening remarks by KNDA Chancellor Kim Joon Hyung and a special address by Rector of the College of Europe Federica Mogherini, followed by session I on “The Quest for Confidence Building Measures in Northeast Asia: Lessons from Europe” and session II on “Initial Confidence Building Measures among Korea, Japan and China:Searching for Practicalities.”  The first-day sessions will be open to the public and held both virtually and with a small number of in-person participants. They will be broadcast in real time through the KNDA’s YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/user/KNDALIVE).

° Session I will feature a keynote speech by former Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Emerging Security Challenges of NATO H.E. Jamie Shea and a roundtable discussion among the panelists -- Professor at Peking University Jia Qingguo, Professor at Keio University Soeya Yoshihide, and Professor at the KNDA Jun Bong-Geun -- on the way forward for the multilateral security cooperation framework in Northeast Asia from various perspectives.

° Session II will consist of presentations by Professor at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Wang Junsheng, Professor at Hokkaido University Endo Ken, Professor at Korea National Defense University Park Changhee, as well as an in-depth discussion on confidence-building measures among the ROK, China and Japan with the panelists -- Associate Researcher Fellow at the China Institute of International Studies Cao Qun, Professor at Nagasaki University Yoshida Fumihiko, Senior Policy Analyst at the United States Institute of Peace Patricia M. Kim, and Professor at the KNDA Kim Han-kwon.

4. On December 4, the second day of the Forum, a closed-door special session will be held on the theme of “Countering the Pandemic: Making a Safe Region.”

- The special session will bring together prestigious experts from Northeast Asia, including the ROK, China, Japan, Russia and Mongolia, who are expected to hold a creative discussion on an initiative for regional cooperation for pandemic response.

5. The Forum is expected to serve as an opportunity for cooperation in presenting a new vision for sustainable prosperity and peace in Northeast Asia amid the fluctuating regional and global situations and the global spread of COVID-19, as well as an opportunity to seek the direction of the ROK’s foreign policy and ways for the ROK to contribute to the international community.