1. Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se made an official visit to the Czech Republic on July 15 and 16 on his way to Bratislava, Slovakia, to attend a Foreign Ministers’ meeting between the Republic of Korea and the Visegrad Group set for July 17. On July 16, Minister Yun attended a meeting and luncheon with his Czech counterpart Lubomir Zaoralek and paid courtesy calls on President Milos Zeman and Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka.

2. Minister Zaoralek stressed that the Czech Republic, considering the ROK one of its key Asian partners, strongly hopes to forge a full-fledged partnership with the country. He proposed that the two countries work together to boost high-level exchanges, trade and investment, and promote substantive cooperation in such sectors as energy and resources.

◦ In response, Minister Yun brought attention to the fact that the cooperation between the two countries has deepened and increased in a wide range of fields despite their relatively short 25-odd years of diplomatic relations. Citing investments in the Czech Republic by leading Korean companies as successful cases of bilateral cooperation, he noted that strategic investment decisions based on such experiences will help promote bilateral cooperation in other fields as well.

3. The two Ministers agreed that their countries, based on their willingness to see advances in relations, will work more closely together in nuclear energy, gas and other energy sources, as well as infrastructure for transportation. They also agreed to broaden the scope of cooperation to include such fields as science, technology, defense and security.

◦ With regard to cooperation on nuclear energy in particular, the two Ministers hailed the memorandum of understanding on energy cooperation signed between the two governments in June and voiced hope to hold follow-up consultations in the second half of this year.

4. Minister Yun extended appreciation to the Czech Republic for its strong support for the ROK’s policy toward North Korea and conveyed hope to work closely with the Czech Republic, which has a resident diplomatic mission in North Korea. Minister Zaoralek spoke of his keen personal interest in peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and expressed willingness to contribute in that regard. He added that the Czech government will continue to support and cooperate on the ROK’s policy toward North Korea.

5. The two Ministers shared the view that people-to-people and cultural exchanges help enhance mutual understanding between the peoples of the two countries and play an important bridging role in advancing the bilateral ties. In that vein, they agreed to conduct various cooperation projects, including the Global Korea Scholarship program, promoting Korean-language courses and Korean studies in the Czech Republic and setting up a Korean exhibition room in the Czech National Museum.

6. During Minister Yun’s courtesy calls on President Zeman and Prime Minister Sobotka, the two Czech leaders expressed their deep interest in deepening bilateral relations as well as their view of the ROK as a major cooperative partner in Asia. Highlighting the need to boost high-level exchanges and substantive cooperation between the ROK and the Czech Republic to that end, the two leaders conveyed their strong hope to upgrade the bilateral ties.

7. The official visit of Minister Yun to the Czech Republic marked the first of its kind by an ROK Foreign Minister in 24 years since 1990 when then Minister Choi Ho-joong visited the country to sign the protocol on the establishment of bilateral diplomatic relations. Minister Yun’s visit served as an opportunity to build new momentum for vitalizing high-level exchanges and confirm the interest and willingness of Czech leaders toward closer ties with the ROK.

◦ In particular, the visit is seen to have served as an important opportunity to confirm the great interest and the willingness of the President, the Prime Minister, the Foreign Minister and other top-level officials of the Czech Republic to upgrade the ROK-Czech relations in the full range of fields and an opportunity for the two governments to pursue closer cooperation in the future. 


                 Spokesperson and Deputy Minister for Public Relations of MOFA

* unofficial translation