Press Briefing

Spokesperson and Deputy Minister for Public Affairs Choi Youngsam

September 1, 2022  14:30  KST

Good afternoon. Let me start today’s briefing.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Park Jin will meet with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lao PDR Saleumxay Kommasith at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Seoul on Tuesday afternoon, September 6.

For your information, Deputy Prime Minister Saleumxay will visit Korea from September 5 to 8.

In the upcoming meeting, the two sides will review the progress on the bilateral cooperation, discuss the way forward for the development of bilateral relations, and exchange views on the situations on the Korean Peninsula and in other major regions as well as ways to work together on the international stage.

Foreign Minister Park will also ask for Lao PDR's support for Korea's bid to host the 2030 World Expo in Busan.

Next, let me tell you the position of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the press conference held this morning by the civic group for victims of forced labor during the Japanese colonial period.

The Korean government has strong will to continue to work earnestly to resolve the issue of forced labor as early as possible, while listening attentively to the opinions of the victims.

In this respect, Foreign Minister Park's visit to the victims is to listen for himself to the voices of the victims who experienced the hardships of forced labor.

The government will work consistently to find a reasonable solution, while listening attentively to the victims.

Meanwhile, the Foreign Ministry submitted the written opinion to the Supreme Court fairly in accordance with relevant laws. The Ministry makes it clear once again that the submission of the opinion was not intended to be involved in or influence the case.

(A question-and-answer session followed.)