1. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, together with the Korea National Diplomatic Academy (KNDA), will be holding the 2021 Northeast Asia Peace and Cooperation Forum (NAPC Forum) under the theme of ”A Peaceful, Safe and Prosperous Northeast Asia: From Competition to Cooperation” on October 6-7.

° The NAPC Forum is a key means of implementation of the project carried out by the government of the Republic of Korea to establish a “Northeast Asia Peace and Cooperation Platform” with the aim of building 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, Mongolia, the United States, and the Russian Federation) and dialogue partners from beyond the region that are interested in and committed to peace and cooperation on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia.

° All sessions will be open to the public and held both on-line and off-line 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).

2. The NAPC Forum 2021 will evaluate the strategic environment and the current status of Northeast Asian peace cooperation to explore the vision and practical tasks to promote peace, safety and prosperity in Northeast Asia. Moreover, the Forum will explore ways to cooperate regionally on disasters and accidents, to facilitate regional economic cooperation through the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), and to facilitate human and resource exchanges through the East Asia Railway Community.

3. On its first day, October 6, the Forum will kick off with opening remarks by KNDA Chancellor Hong Hyun-Ik, followed by a video of an interview of various people from all areas of society, such as personnel and experts related to regional cooperation. Sessions I and II will be on “Northeast Asia Peace and Cooperation and the Way Forward” and “Disaster Response in Northeast Asia and Regional Cooperation: Nuclear and Radiation Accident Response,” respectively.

° Session I will be moderated by Professor Kim Taehwan at the KNDA and feature a roundtable discussion among the panelists. The discussion will be on the common values and vision that Northeast Asia pursues as well as ways to achieve regional confidence building, multilateral security dialogue, and peace cooperation.

° Session II will consist of presentations and discussions on crisis management measures in Northeast Asia, focusing on the response to nuclear accidents. Moderator for Session II will be Lee Sang Hyun, President of Sejong Institute.

4. On the second day of the Forum, October 7, Session III will be held on “Northeast Asian Economic Cooperation and RCEP: Looking to a Promising Future,” and Session IV is a special session organized by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport on “Promoting Human and Material Resource Exchanges Through East Asia Railway Network.”

° In Session III, Director General of the Department of Asian and Pacific Studies at the KNDA Kim Young-moo will chair an in-depth discussion on ways for facilitating regional economic cooperation through the RCEP.

° Session IV will be moderated by Professor Kim Youen at Hanyang University and discussions will be held on the necessity and implementation plan of the East Asia Railway Community.

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, as well as an opportunity to seek direction for the ROK’s foreign policy and ways for the ROK to contribute to the international community.