Press Briefing

Spokesperson and Deputy Minister for Public Relations Choi Youngsam

December 29, 2020  14:30  KST

Good afternoon. Let me start today’s briefing.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will hold the first meeting to launch the “Northeast Asia Cooperation Initiative for Infectious Disease Control and Public Health” in the form of a track 1.5 working-level virtual meeting on the evening of December 29.

After President Moon Jae-in proposed the “Northeast Asia Cooperation Initiative for Infectious Disease Control and Public Health” at the UN General Assembly in September, this meeting has been arranged based on regional countries’ shared view on the importance of transboundary regional cooperation on issues including COVID-19 response.

In her welcoming remarks to be delivered via video, Minister of Foreign Affairs Kang, Kyung-wha will stress the need for regional cooperation in response to transboundary health security crises, and express expectation that the scope and depth of cooperation among participating countries will continue to expand, starting from the working-level virtual meeting.

In the upcoming working-level virtual meeting, government officials and civilian experts in the areas of health, disease control, and international relations in the region will share each country’s exemplary cases of COVID-19 response, and freely discuss ways of regional cooperation to respond to transboundary health security crises.

Participants from the governments will include director-level diplomatic and health officials from five countries -- Korea, the United States, China, Russia, and Mongolia.

Meanwhile, officials from the Japanese Embassy in Korea will attend the meeting, but the Japanese side conveyed its position that it will look further into whether to participate in the Initiative.

North Korea will not take part in this meeting, but as regional cooperation on COVID-19 response is urgent, the Korean government has decided to first launch the Initiative among countries that can join it, with leaving the door open for North Korea’s participation in the future.

Based on today’s meeting, the Korean government will enhance substantive cooperation among countries concerned and gradually seek to encourage more countries including North Korea to participate in the Initiative.

(A question-and-answer session followed.)