1. A joint delegation from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of National Defense of the Republic of Korea attended the 2023 UN Peacekeeping Ministerial held in Accra, Ghana, from December 5 to 6. The delegation was led by Kweon Ki-hwan, Deputy Minister for Multilateral and Global Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and included Woo Kyung-suk, Head of the Taskforce for the 70^th Anniversary of the ROK-U.S. Alliance at the Ministry of National Defense.

2. The Peacekeeping Ministerial is a regular minister-level meeting launched as a follow up to the Leaders’ Summit on Peacekeeping co-hosted in 2015 by former U.S. President Obama and former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. The objective of this meeting is to secure the international community’s political support and each country’s new commitments to strengthen UN peacekeeping operations (PKO), a core mission of the UN Security Council.

3. This year’s meeting brought together high-level delegations from some 80 countries and major international organizations, such as the UN, the European Union (EU) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). A plenary session on the implementation of peacekeeping mandates and enhancement of missions’ effectiveness, capacity-building of missions and training, as well as factors of successful missions took place. As part of the meeting, side events on the environmental management in peacekeeping and women in peacekeeping were also held.

4. Deputy Minister Kweon highlighted Korea’s commitment to PKO as a key troop contributing country (TCC) – with about 600 people being dispatched to the UN Interim Force in Lebanon and the UN Mission in South Sudan, among others -- and the ninth-largest financial contributor to PKO. He made pledges to support the establishment of a Smart Camp and provision of medical training for peacekeepers from other TCCs, among others, to strengthen technology and medical capacity-building of PKO pursuant to the Seoul Initiative that Korea announced at the 2021 Seoul UN Peacekeeping Ministerial. He also announced Korea’s pledges to support projects designed to better respond to misinformation and disinformation and to host a session on supporting women’s participation in peace operations on the occasion of the sixth International Conference on Action with Women and Peace next year.

5. On the sidelines of the UN event, Deputy Minister Kweon paid a courtesy call on Hon. Shirley Ayokor Botchwey, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration of Ghana, a current non-permanent member of the UN Security Council. During the meeting, they discussed the latest discussions within the Security Council on PKO and African country files, among others. Minister Botchwey shared Ghana’s experiences and knowhow as a UN Security Council member and looked forward to Korea’s successful work in the UN Security Council.

6. The 2023 UN Peacekeeping Ministerial is seen to have served as an opportunity for Korea to further enhance its role and standing in PKO, a core mission of the UN Security Council, ahead of its non-permanent membership of the UN Security Council for the 2024-2025 term.