1. Vice Foreign Minister Cho Hyun met with Secretary-General Maurice Gourdault-Montagne of the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs in Paris on December 6. In their meeting, the two senior diplomats exchanged views on ways to promote the Republic of Korea-France relations, and to work together in responding to the North Korean nuclear issue and on global challenges.

2. Vice Minister Cho noted with appreciation that the ROK and France have been working closely together in economy, education, culture and nearly all other sectors; and robustly engaging in high-level exchanges, as can be seen from the recently-held second round of the bilateral foreign ministerial strategic dialogue and the fourth bilateral ministerial-level forum on technological cooperation in new industries.

3. The Vice Minister asked the government of France, a winter sports powerhouse, to pay attention to and cooperate on the efforts to make a success of the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. In response, Secretary-General Gourdault-Montagne expressed confidence that the PyeongChang Winter Olympics will be a safe and successful event.

4. With regard to North Korea’s recent launch of a long-range ballistic missile, the Vice Minister and the Secretary-General, both calling repeated provocations by North Korea a grave threat to peace and security on the Korean Peninsula and beyond, agreed to continue coordination toward a complete denuclearization of the North.

5. The two senior diplomats agreed to work more closely together on global challenges, particularly calling climate change an issue that the international community should respond to jointly and urgently.

6. The ROK-France meeting is seen to have served as an opportunity to reaffirm their comprehensive partnership in the 21st century and to step up bilateral cooperation on regional and global issues.


* unofficial translation