1. Second Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Cho Tae-yul has been appointed as a member of the World Economic Forum (WEF) Global Agenda Council on the Arctic. He will serve on the Council two years starting from this September.

º The Global Agenda Council on the Arctic, one of the 86 Global Agenda Councils established by the WEF for systematic discussions on key international issues, was launched in 2012. It is composed of government officials and leading civilian experts on the Arctica.

2. Over the next two years, the WEF Global Agenda Council on the Arctic will focus on “ways to establish a new system” for a sustainable management of the Arctic and thereby play an important role in discussions on Arctic-related issues.

º In particular, with the thawing of the Arctic ice accelerating, discussions on Arctic routes and the development of the Arctic resources are being put into full gear. Amid this, the WEF Council is expected to lead international discussions on ways to protect the Arctic environment and seek new economic opportunities on the continent.

3. Starting from this September, Vice Minister Cho will attend three to four tele-conferences, the Summit on the Global Agenda in Dubai in November, and the Davos Forum in January 2015 to participate in discussions on Arctic-related agenda. He will also take part in the drafting of a report to be issued around June 2015 on the Council’s first year of activities.

4. The Republic of Korea, after starting to participate in Arctic operations in the early 1990s, put into full gear its scientific research activities on the continent through the Dasan Arctic Research Station set up in Ny-Alesund, Norway, in 2002. The Park Geun-hye government set as one of its key policy tasks the promotion of Arctic activities and has actively carried out diplomacy in that regard. As a result of such efforts, the ROK won an observer status at the Arctic Council in May 2013 and has since participated proactively in the Council activities. 


                  Spokesperson and Deputy Minister for Public Relations of MOFA

* unofficial translation