1. Vice Foreign Minister Lim Sung-nam held bilateral meetings with State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of Slovakia Ivan Korcok (acting Minister), Foreign Minister of Finland Timo Soini, Foreign Minister of Sweden Margot Wallström, and Foreign Minister of Mongolia Damdin Tsogtbaatar on November 20 on the sidelines of the 13th ASEM Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, and exchanged views on bilateral relations, the North Korean nuclear issue, and the PyeongChang Olympic Winter Games.

2. Vice Minister Lim and the Foreign Ministers and the State Secretary shared their assessments of the situation on the Korean Peninsula, and reaffirmed their common position that the North Korean nuclear issue needs to be resolved peacefully through a stable management of the situation. They also agreed to continue close cooperation to solve the North Korean nuclear problem.

3. Vice Minister Lim said that preparations for the PyeongChang Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games are going smoothly, and offered to work actively together to make the PyeongChang Winter Olympics a peaceful festival bringing together a number of countries.

4. In the meeting between the ROK and Slovakia, State Secretary Korcok said that the ROK is the biggest investor in Slovakia among non-European countries, and the cooperative relations between the two countries are at their highest point, and offered to continue to further expand and advance the relations.

o Vice Minister Lim asked for more attention and support from the Slovakian government regarding difficulties faced by Korean companies in the country to make sure that the companies can carry out business activities more actively.

5. In his meeting with Swedish Foreign Minister Wallström, Vice Minister Lim took note of the continued enhancement of the bilateral relations, and the Swedish side’s diplomatic efforts to resolve the North Korean nuclear issue peacefully, and asked the Swedish side to continue to play a constructive role in addressing the issue.

o Minister Wallström expressed hope that the governments of the two countries will continue close communications on issues of mutual interest, including the empowerment of women and the North Korean nuclear issue.

6. In his meeting with Finnish Foreign Minister Soini, Vice Minister Lim noted that substantive cooperation between the two countries is expanding in a range of areas, as can be seen in the operation of direct flights between Incheon and Helsinki, and the ROK’s export of the K9 self-propelled howitzers to Finland.

o Minister Soini said that as Finland is serving as Chair of the Arctic Council, the country hopes to continue to closely cooperate with the ROK, an Observer to the Arctic Council.

7. In his meeting with Mongolian Foreign Minister Tsogtbaatar, Vice Minister Lim exchanged views on ways to increase high-level exchanges and hold inter-governmental consultations, including joint economic committee meetings, as well as ways to strengthen substantive cooperation between the two countries.


* unofficial translation