1. Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha will attend the World Economic Forum on ASEAN (WEF on ASEAN), to be held in Hanoi, Vietnam, from September 11 till 13, as its co-chair.

※ The WEF, a non-profit and non-governmental organization established in 1971, holds its plenary session (Davos forum), which brings together about 3,000 global leaders, including top-level officials, in January every year.

※ Six co-chairs of the upcoming WEF on ASEAN

- Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha, Minister of Finance of Indonesia Sri Mulyani Indrawati, Acting Minister for Information and Communications of Vietnam Nguyen Manh Hung, CEO of Plan International Anne-Birgitte Albrectsen, Global Managing Partner of McKinsey Kevin Sneader, and Chairman of CIMB Group Holdings Nazir Razak

o The upcoming meeting will be attended by about 1,000 people -- highest-level officials from ASEAN member states, including Laos, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Indonesia, and Cambodia; 51 ministerial-level officials, including foreign ministers of Japan, Indonesia, Chile, and Laos; and representatives from major international organizations and companies.

o The participants will discuss the geopolitics and economy of ASEAN, and the response to the Fourth Industrial Revolution in some 60 open or closed meetings, to be held under the theme “ASEAN 4.0: Entrepreneurship and the Fourth Industrial Revolution” from September 11 to 13.

※ The WEF on ASEAN is one of six regional forums hosted by the WEF (ASEAN, Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, Europe and Central Asia).

2. As co-chair of the meeting, Minister Kang will first attend a joint press conference of co-chairs, the first official event, on the morning of September 12. The Minister will then attend a meeting on “Breaking Barriers: Women Entrepreneurs in ASEAN” on the afternoon of September 12, and a meeting on “Asia’s Geopolitical Outlook” on the morning of September 13.

※ The press conference, the opening ceremony and the meeting on “Asia’s Geopolitical Outlook” will be broadcast live on the Internet through the website of the WEF.

o In the meeting on “Asia’s Geopolitical Outlook” on September 13, Minister Kang will explain the position of the government of the Republic of Korea on the situation on the Korean Peninsula, with a focus on a peaceful resolution of the North Korean nuclear issue, as well as the ROK’s New Southern Policy.

- Debaters participating in the meeting will be Prime Minister of Sri Lanka Ranil Wickremesinghe, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Vietnam Pham Binh Minh, Foreign Minister of Japan Taro Kono, and Dr. Lynn Kuok from the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

※ The meeting will be co-organized by the WEF and Channel News Asia (CNA), and moderated by CNA anchor Julie Yoo.

3. Furthermore, Minister Kang will hold meetings with Vietnam’s Prime Minister, Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister, Japan’s Foreign Minister, Chile’s Foreign Minister, and Executive Chairman of the WEF Klaus Schwab. She will also attend the “Korea Night” event, to which people from the private sector, companies, and governments representing the ROK, Vietnam and WEF will be invited.

4. Minister Kang’s co-chairmanship of the upcoming WEF on ASEAN, which marks the first for the ROK government, is expected to serve as a good opportunity to help the international community better understand the latest developments on the Korean Peninsula, and to explain in person the ROK government’s philosophy in implementing the New Southern Policy to Asia’s leading entrepreneurs.

※ ROK government officials who participated in the WEF on ASEAN in the past ten years

- (2008) Deputy Minister for Trade Ahn Ho-young, (2012) Vice Foreign Minister, (2014) G20 Sherpa, and (2015) Vice Foreign Minister

* unofficial translation