Weekly Domestic/Foreign Press Briefing 
H.E. Lee Kyu-hyung, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade
September 27, 2006 - 15:00 KST

TRANSCRIPT: OPENING STATEMENT (KOREAN-ENGLISH TRANSLATION)

I will begin with the outcomes of our Prime Minister's visits to four countries.

Prime Minister Han Myeong-sook made a working visit to the United Arab Emirates and official visits to Libya, 
Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan since September 18 and returned to Korea this morning.

Prime Minister Han made a working visit to Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, from September 18 to 19, 
where she held talks with Vice President/Prime Minister Muhammad.  They agreed to set up a Korea-UAE 
Joint Economic Committee at an early date, share development experiences between Korea and Dubai, and 
strengthen bilateral cooperation in various areas such as IT, construction, plant, education and medicare.  

In particular, Prime Minister asked the UAE to render special consideration and support for Korean 
companies' efforts to make inroads into the Dubai market, and expressed that the Korean government plans 
to pursue the establishment of a Consulate General in Dubai considering the importance of Dubai.

Prime Minster Han made an official visit to Libya from September 19 to 21, where she held the ROK-Libya 
Prime Ministers' Talks and paid a courtesy call on Brotherly Leader Muammar al-Gaddafi on September 20.  
She took this opportunity to express Korean companies' aspirations to participate in the oil field 
development and the infrastructure expansion project of Libya, and asked for the Libyan government's 
special interest.  She also asked for Leader Gaddafi‘s support for the efforts to resolve the North Korean 
nuclear issue in a peaceful manner.  In response, Leader Gaddafi asked Korean companies to expand their 
investments in Libya and share their development experiences, and expressed Libya's willingness to play a 
mediator role in the efforts to resolve the North Korean nuclear issue.  The two sides also concluded the 
investment guarantee agreement, the trade agreement, and the MOUs on construction and transportation 
cooperation as well as vocational training cooperation.

Prime Minister Han also made an official visit to Kazakhstan from September 21 to 24, where she paid a 
courtesy call on President Nazarbayev and met with Prime Minister Akhmetov.  The two prime ministers 
agreed to further develop friendly and substantial cooperation between the two countries by expanding the 
fields of bilateral cooperation to non-resource fields such as IT, petroleum/chemicals, construction and 
education, along with full-scale expansion of bilateral cooperation in the natural resource fields such as oil 
fields and uranium, including the Zhambyl.

The two sides concluded an agreement on dispatch of volunteer missions and 4 MOUs on transportation 
cooperation, land management cooperation, water resource cooperation and industrial complex planning.  
Prime Minister Han asked for the Kazakhstan government's interest in and support for the efforts to 
successfully hold events commemorating the 70th anniversary of ethnic Koreans' emigration to Central Asia 
next year.

Lastly, Prime Minister Han made an official visit to Uzbekistan from September 24 to 26, where she paid a 
courtesy call on President Karimov and met with Prime Minister Mirziyoyev.  The two sides noted that the 
cooperative ties between the two countries have been enhanced on the basis of mutual trust ever since the 
establishment of the "Strategic Partnership" on the occasion of state visits in May 2005 and March 2006.

The two sides agreed to diversify the fields of substantial cooperation between the two countries such as IT, 
automobiles and textile, as well as privatization of Uzbek public enterprises, participation in reconstruction 
and development fund, establishment of special economic zone, and sharing economic development 
experiences along with the expansion of bilateral cooperation in the field of energy and resources.  They 
also signed 11 MOUs.

Prime Minister Han asked for continued interest in and support for ethnic Koreans, and the Uzbek 
government promised to provide active support for ethnic Koreans in Uzbekistan.

 
Next, about the inauguration of the new Japanese Prime Minister.

As announced by Cheong Wa Dae yesterday, President Roh Moo-hyun sent a congratulatory message to the 
Japanese Prime Minister, Mr. Shinzo Abe for his assumption of office on September 26.  In this message, 
President Roh congratulated the new Prime Minister, and expressed his hope for the future-oriented 
development of Korea-Japan relations and the further enhancement of regional cooperation in Northeast 
Asia.

Our government believes that Korea and Japan must meet the needs of the times by making joint efforts not 
only for the development of Korea-Japan relations but also for stability and prosperity of this region, and we 
expect the new Japanese government to make sincere and active efforts in this perspective.

Now, let me explain about the 61st session of the UN General Assembly.

Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Ban Ki-moon, who is currently in New York to attend the 61st session 
of the UN General Assembly, delivered a keynote speech on September 21 in which he expressed our 
government's position on major UN activities such as global peace, security, human rights and 
development, as well as UN reforms.  He also pointed out that North Korea's nuclear and missile program 
present serious challenges to the non-proliferation regime and regional security, and urged North Korea to 
return to the Six-Party Talks without any preconditions.

Minister Ban had bilateral foreign ministers' talks with about 20 countries thus far, including the United 
Kingdom, France, Russia, Canada and Brazil, and he also met with UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and 
Chairman of the UN General Assembly, Rashed Al Khalifa, for discussions on pending issues such as UN 
reforms and regional conflicts.

This week, Minister Ban will have bilateral foreign ministers' talks with about 10 countries, attend Forum of 
Small States, deliver speeches at the Asia Society and the International Peace Academy, and have 
interviews with NYT and Reuters, among others.  He is scheduled to return to Korea in the morning of 
September 29.

 
Lastly, I will explain our government's various efforts to diversify our diplomacy.  Last week, the Ministry of 
Foreign Affairs and Trade hosted a series of events to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the ROK's OECD 
membership along with high-ranking officials of the OECD including Secretary-General Angel Gurria.  We 
also held the 10th Korea-Latin American Business Forum at the COEX Conference Center on September 
25-26, along with the Korean Council on Latin America, the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy, the 
Korea Institute for International Economic Policy and the Korea International Trade Association.

At this forum, which was sponsored by Joongang Ilbo, about 100 high-level officials in the fields of Latin 
American politics, economy and culture, including Jose Luis Machinea of the Economic Commission for 
Latin America and Caribbean, and Rosalia Arteaga Serrano of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization, 
and Korean experts in Latin American affairs gathered for discussions on the direction of newly-established 
economic policies of the new governments in Latin America and corresponding measures by Korean 
companies.  In particular, it provided a useful opportunity to discuss with Latin American countries 
about their experiences in the pursuit of FTA with the United States.

Our government also plans to invite about 20 ministerial-level officials of African countries and 
representatives of international organizations for the 1st Korea-Africa Forum on November 7-10.

This forum will be held as part of the "Initiative for the Development of Africa" that our President had 
announced during his African tour in March.  Our government would like to take this opportunity to enhance 
the Korean people's understanding of Africa, which is not only rich in energy and resources but also 
emerging as the last untouched market since BRICs.  We also expect it to make significant contributions to 
the vitalization of our diplomacy toward Africa, the foundation of which has been provided by our President's 
African tour in March.  In particular, we hope that it will also contribute to the uplifting of our national status 
by showing the international community how we are faithfully implementing our pledges of the Initiative for 
the Development of Africa.

In addition, our government plans to hold the 4th Korea-Middle East Cooperation Forum in Seoul from 
November 29 to December 1, to enhance mutual understanding in the fields of politics, economy, social 
and cultural affairs and seek visions for the future-oriented development of Korea-Middle East relations.

This forum, which will be held under the theme of "Search for a New Partnership with the Middle East", will 
be participated by around 30 high-level government officials and scholars from the Middle East and around 
200 Korean representatives.  It is expected to contribute to the search of a new partnership befitting recent 
changes in the political and economic status of the countries in the Middle East in the international 
community.  /END/