1. On the sidelines of the 71st session of the UN General Assembly, Minister Yun Byung-se attended the fifth ministerial meeting between the Republic of Korea and the Cuarteto countries of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) on September 22. In their meeting, the top diplomats extensively discussed the North Korean nuclear issue and ways for the Republic of Korea and CELAC to work more closely together.

2. Minister Yun, calling North Korea’s fifth nuclear test a grave provocation different from the previous rounds in terms of the strength and interval, underscored the need for the international community to send out to North Korea a consistent, united message that the entire international community will not accept the North’s nuclear tests. He asked CELAC, a leading regional cooperative mechanism in Latin America, to play an active role in that regard.

° The delegation from the Cuarteto countries of CELAC, which represents the 33 Latin American countries, sharing Minister Yun’s view of North Korea’s recent test as a grave, unacceptable provocation, mentioned that the CELAC member states will be informed of the gravity of escalating nuclear and missile threats from North Korea.

3. The two sides noted with appreciation that the ROK-CELAC-ECLAC (Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean) seminar, which had been held in Chile in April 2016 in a follow-up on the ROK-CELAC foreign ministerial meeting in 2015, had covered in depth ways to pursue scientific and technological innovation and to work together in the internalization of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) They agreed to further step up substantive cooperation between the ROK and CELAC in the fields.

° As a way to boost the ROK-CELAC substantive cooperation, Minister Yun proposed holding, in cooperation with the ROK’s Small and Medium Business Administration, an ROK-CELAC workshop to seek ways to build on the outcome on the ROK-CELAC-ECLAC seminar and strengthen SMEs’ capabilities. He voiced hope that the workshop will serve as an opportunity to broaden the SMEs network between the ROK and Latin America; and to share with Latin America the ROK’s experience of promoting SMEs.

3. The CELAC delegation, hailing the proposal, expressed hope that the workshop will help broaden the scope of cooperation with the ROK, CELAC’s non-regional partner for cooperation, to include not only SMEs but also science, technology, education, and other areas of mutual concern.

4. The fifth ROK-CELAC Cuarteto foreign ministerial meeting is seen to have served as an opportunity to share with the chair countries of CELAC, which represents the 33 Latin American countries, the non-tolerance for a nuclear North Korea and to step up substantive cooperation with CELAC, thereby strengthening the foundation of the ROK’s multi-level diplomacy toward Latin America.


* unofficial translation