Press Briefing
Spokesperson and Deputy Minister for Public Relations Cho Tai-young
Nov. 7, 2013 14:30 KST


Good afternoon. Let me start today’s briefing.

First, Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se will visit India to attend a Foreign Ministers’ Meeting of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM).

On the sidelines of the Meeting, Minister Yun and his Indian counterpart Salman Khurshid will hold the 7th Meeting of the Ministerial Joint Commission in New Delhi, India, on November 9.

At the Meeting, the Republic of Korea and India, which mark their 40th anniversary of diplomatic relations this year, will review the progress in cooperation in a wide range of sectors, including foreign affairs, security, economy, trade, science, technology, society and culture. They will also discuss ways to expand and deepen their cooperation in each of the fields.

The upcoming Meeting is expected to further deepen the bilateral strategic partnership forged in 2010.

Moving on to the second announcement, as I have just mentioned, Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se will attend the 11th ASEM Foreign Ministers’ Meeting to take place in New Delhi, India, on November 11 and 12.

The Meeting will bring together Foreign Ministers or Acting Foreign Ministers from the 49 ASEM member states, including the Republic of Korea, as well as the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and the ASEAN Secretary-General.

In the Meeting themed “ASEM: Bridge to Partnership for Growth and Development,” the participating Ministers are expected to extensively exchange views on ways to achieve economic growth and sustainable development; non-traditional security challenges, including counter-terrorism and cyber and energy security; and regional and global issues.

Minister Yun will attend the Meeting on November 11 to share the cyber security-related achievements reached at the 2013 Seoul Conference on Cyberspace in October and propose discussing ways to promote cooperation within ASEM on cyber security.

Furthermore, he will touch upon the ROK’s creative economy policy and seek ways to coordinate it with various innovation policies of ASEM member states.

On the sidelines of the ASEM meeting, the Minister will meet bilaterally with his counterparts from Portugal and Slovenia.

Thirdly, on Thursday, November 21, the Foreign Ministry will invite 200 students who took the college entrance exam this year to the Foreign Ministry for a special visit program.

This program is designed to offer encouragement to those who are about to enter college as well as help them better understand activities of the Foreign Ministry and diplomats and choose their future careers.

The program will consist of an introduction to the Foreign Ministry; cultural performances where the students can take part; a lecture by a diplomat on global talent; and conversations with diplomats.

Anyone who took the college entrance exam this year is eligible to apply. Applications can be made via the Foreign Ministry’s website and SNS pages, including Facebook, Twitter, and M2day, from November 8 till 17.

Fourthly, the Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security (IFANS) under the Korea National Diplomatic Academy (KNDA) will hold the 2013 Global Conference themed “The Northeast Peace and Cooperation Initiative and Trustpolitik” at the KNDA on November 14.

The Conference will be open to the public, but prior application for participation is necessary.

The Conference, which will take place to mark the 50th anniversary of the KNDA, has been organized to gather wisdom for implementing the aforementioned Initiative aimed at ushering in an era of happiness for the ROK nationals and the global community as well as to enhance the interest in and understanding on the Initiative at home and abroad. As such, it is expected to serve as an opportunity to seek full-fledged cooperation from the international community on this policy.

The Conference will consist of three sessions, where the former Foreign Ministers of the ROK and other countries, including former ROK Minister Yu Myung-hwan and former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, and relevant experts will take part as moderators or panelists.

From the ROK Foreign Ministry, KNDA Chancellor Yun Duk-min will participate as a moderator and Second Vice Minister Cho Tae-yul will participate as a panelist.

Lastly, Huh Chul, the Foreign Ministry’s Ambassador for Global Counterterrorism Cooperation, will attend as the ROK’s head delegate the 15th Plenary Session of the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia in Djibouti from November 11 through 14.

The timeframe of the 15th Plenary Session was designated as the “Counter Piracy Week” at the 14th Plenary Session held in May 2013.

As you may know, the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia (CGPCS) is an international consultative mechanism established in January 2009 pursuant to UN Security Council Resolution 1851. Currently, 60 countries and 30-odd international and maritime organizations take part in the Group’s activities.

The Contact Group discusses ways to promote military coordination and capacity building; seek cooperation on legal issues; enhance self-protection of maritime transport companies; and disrupt the financial networks of pirates and identify their supporters.

In the forthcoming meeting, the ROK, as the chair of Working Group 3, will make a presentation on the Working Group’s activities and discuss with other participating countries strategies, goals and priorities for eradicating Somali piracy.

Some 30% of the ROK’s maritime cargoes pass through the Somali pirate-infested waters.

Under the circumstances, Korean vessels have continuously sustained damage from Somali piracy. In this light, the country will take a leading part in international efforts to resolve the issue of Somali piracy.

This is all for my opening statement.


[Q&A]

Q: I understand that a ROK-Japan-China Trilateral Senior Foreign Officials' Consultation is under way. Will its key agenda items include the possibility of a trilateral summit, a trilateral Foreign Minister’s meeting and/or the issues regarding the Six-Party Talks?

A: The Trilateral Senior Foreign Officials' Consultation, which will take place this afternoon, will consist of two sessions. The earlier one will cover ways for the three countries to work together, while the latter will be a Policy Dialogue on Asian Affairs, which will cover the situation in Asia.

As I have just said, in the earlier session, the three countries will mainly review the progress in trilateral cooperation and discuss better ways for future cooperation.

Currently, there are a number of working consultative mechanisms among the three countries. If I recall correctly, there are 18 mechanisms at the ministerial-level alone.

In answer to your question regarding whether the Consultation would cover the issue of holding a trilateral summit and/or a trilateral Foreign Ministers’ meeting, let me tell you nothing has been decided with regard to those two meetings.

One of the main purposes of the Consultation is to prepare for trilateral Foreign Ministers’ meetings and summits. With nothing decided regarding them, not much is expected to be discussed about them.

Q: What do you mean by saying not much is expected to be discussed?

A: To be more accurate, they will most unlikely be discussed. There is another separate consultative mechanism called the Six-Party Talks for this issue. The member countries of the Six-Party Talks have their own head delegates to the Talks. The ROK’s head delegate is currently on a visit to the US. In this light, I understand that issues concerning the Six-Party Talks will not be discussed at the Consultation.

Q: This was brought up in your press briefing on Tuesday. With regard to the US’ controversial wiretapping scandal, you told us then that the ROK government had requested verification from the US side on numerous occasions through various channels. Please share with what, if any, the US government has said to further clarify or explain its position.

A: I have not heard that the US government has provided a further clarification of its position.

Q: Has the US side mentioned that a certain process was under way, requesting the ROK wait until the process is over or some other time? Or, has it remained silent after giving its first reply?

Q: As I understand it, the US government mentioned that it would review its practices.

To my knowledge, a US government spokesperson publicly made remarks to the effect that this review would probably be completed by the end of the year. I understand that the US government is conducting this re-examination and will give an explanation to the ROK government.

Q: I have a question regarding the visit to the US by Special Representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs Cho Tae-yong. There appears to be some progress, albeit slow. There were press reports today on trilateral meetings. Can the situation be construed as the three countries in effect rejecting China-mediated proposal? Please share with us the ROK Foreign Ministry’s stance on this.

A: Instead of saying that countries concerned have rejected China’s meditation, it would be more appropriate to say that countries concerned are discussing ways to make substantive progress but have yet to reach a complete agreement on them. What I can tell you for sure is that these discussions are under way.

Q: There has been no information about the outcome of the visit to North Korea by China’s Special Representative for Korean Peninsula Affairs Wu Dawei. Has the ROK government received from the Chinese government a readout of the aforementioned visit or its position?

A: Are you asking whether the ROK government has received a readout of Wu Dawei’s visit to North Korea?

Q: No. I am asking whether you have received information on what is under way in China.

A: Not that I know of. Let me add this in answer to your question: We are currently putting our heads together. Rather than focusing on who said what and who rejected what, we are in the process of gathering wisdom. And this process is ongoing. This would be a more accurate description of the current situation.

Q: You mentioned moments ago that there is little to be discussed at the ROK-Japan-China Trilateral Senior Foreign Officials' Consultation. Some speculated that the Consultation would cover such matters as the chair country of the trilateral summit next year. Will this not be discussed either?

A: Instead of foretelling whether that would or would not be covered at the meeting, let me just tell you that such matters could of course be covered if raised in the meeting.

What I tried to say earlier is that one of the main purposes of the Consultation is to prepare for the higher-level meetings among Foreign Ministers and among the leaders of the three countries. With no plan for the higher-level meetings set at this point, there would be little to discuss in that regard, which is a very natural and logical in my opinion.

Q: Japan’s business organizations announced its position yesterday on the issue of compensation for forced laborers under Japan’s colonial rule. What does the ROK government make of the groups' position?

A: To my understanding, Japanese business groups voiced their hope to continue moving forward the economic ties between the ROK and Japan.

The ROK government, likewise, hopes for further advances in bilateral economic ties. As the lawsuits mentioned in the written statement by the Japanese groups are currently under way, the ROK government intends to see how they unfold.

Q: With regard to the compensation issue, the Office for Government Policy Coordination said at the recent parliamentary inspection session that the ROK government plans to establish a relevant foundation. Does the government any specific plan to do so?

A: Where was it brought up?

Q: The Office for Government Policy Coordination said at the recent parliamentary inspection session that the ROK government had a plan to establish a foundation.

A: Are you saying that the ROK government will do so on its own?

Q: To my understanding, it will do in cooperation with companies.

A: The ROK on its own?

Q: It did not say “on its own.”

A: I will have to check on that. But as far as I know, there is no such plan.

I will conclude today’s briefing.

* unofficial translation