Press Briefing
Spokesperson and Deputy Minister for Public Relations Cho Tai-young
Dec. 31, 2013 14:30 KST


Good afternoon.

Today is the last day of the year 2013. All of you here and those viewing this press briefing online have all worked hard this year.

For me personally, today marks the second last day of the year as Foreign Ministry Spokesperson. I believe this briefing room serves a very important function for communication between the Foreign Ministry and the people of the Republic of Korea and the rest of the world. Of course, communication is not undertaken in or through this room only. Yet, I have been doing my best here thinking that my regular briefings in this very room serve a very important role in that communication.

I think I have many shortcomings. I whole-heartedly thank you reporters for your active support and cooperation in spite of them. I wish you all a healthy and very happy new year.

Let me start today’s briefing.

As I have just said, this press briefing will mark the last of its kind this year.

I will make a few announcements and then take your questions.

First, I will discuss the key upcoming activities of the Foreign Minister. Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se will visit the US in early January on his first overseas trip of the year 2014 to meet with Secretary of State John Kerry and other key high-level officials of the US administration.

In the meetings, the two sides will consult on the ROK-US alliance, the situations on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia, and global issues.

Tonight, on the eve of the new year 2014, Minister Yun will hold a telephone conversation with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi at the request of the latter’s request. The two Ministers will exchange new year’s greetings and views on matters of mutual concern, including the ROK-China relations and the situation on the Korean Peninsula.

Moving on to the second announcement, the Foreign Ministry will post a promotional video on Dokdo on its website and YouTube at midnight tonight. The Ministry has produced the video clip to broadly inform the international community of the fact that Dokdo is an integral part of the ROK territory in terms of history, geography and international law.

Lastly, the Foreign Ministry, in cooperation with the National Police Agency, has improved the system for obtaining criminal record certificates overseas. The improved system will allow overseas Korean applicants to receive their certificates promptly and conveniently through the e-document system. This new service will be available at all overseas diplomatic missions from January 1, 2014.

Let me share with you how the service will improve convenience. In the past, certificate applicants had to fill out paper application forms and send them to the ROK in the ROK Foreign Ministry’s diplomatic pouches or personally via international mail service. After their arrival in the ROK, these applications underwent due procedures, after which certificates were sent to applicants in diplomatic pouches or via international mail service.

This service will now be available through the e-document system, under which the application processing time will be curtailed from the previous six weeks to less than two weeks. Furthermore, as applicants will no longer need to use international mail service, they will not need to shoulder an annual total of 650 million won (about 619,050 US dollars at today’s FX rate) in mail service fees.

Before this service was available, applicants who used international mail service had to pay 50,000 won (about 48 US dollars at today’s FX rate) for mail service. The Foreign Ministry will continue cooperation with other relevant government agencies to provide overseas Koreans with better service.

This is all for my opening statement.


[Q&A]

Q: Please share with us the purpose of the Foreign Minister’s visit to the US and what he will discuss with Secretary of State John Kerry.

A: I think the purpose of the Foreign Minister’s visit to the US is adduced in what I have just told you will be discussed there. I think it is very significant for a ROK Foreign Minister to visit the US, an ally and a very important diplomatic partner of the ROK. The upcoming meetings of the Foreign Minister with the Secretary of State and other key officials of the US administration will carry great significance as they will take place at the beginning of the new year.

Q: Has no specific date been set?

A: Right. I will inform you of the exact date and other details at an appropriate time.

Q: When was the Foreign Minister’s visit to the US scheduled? Was it scheduled recently?

A: Instead of telling you when it was scheduled, I will just say that the decision was made as a natural outcome of consultations.

Q: You mentioned that Minister Yun will hold a telephone conservation with the Chinese Foreign Minister tonight. Will the two sides take the opportunity to discuss the visit of Japanese Prime Minister Abe to the Yasukuni Shrine? Were the decisions on the visit to the US and the telephone conversation made as the three sides saw a need to respond to Prime Minister Abe’s visit to the Yasukuni Shrine?

A: As I said moments ago, the telephone conversation will take place at the request of Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. I, for my part, cannot foretell what will be discussed during Minister Yun’s visit to the US and in the telephone conversation as well as whether Prime Minister Abe’s visit to the Yasukuni Shrine will be on the agenda. Nonetheless, I personally do not want to foretell that the shrine visit will be excluded from the agenda.

Q: Are there precedents where the ROK and the Chinese Foreign Ministers have held a telephone conference just ahead or at the beginning of a new year? Are such conferences held regularly on an annual basis? Or will it mark the first of its kind?

A: As I recall it, it is not an annual thing.

Q: According to some Korean press reports today, a ROK-Japan consular meeting will take place in Busan on January 10. Please tell us whether this is true.

Many have speculated that Prime Minister Abe’s visit to the Yasukuni Shrine would make it difficult to hold ROK-Japan summit talks and/or other high-level meetings for some time. What is your prospect for bilateral summits and/or other high-level meetings in the new year?

A: I understand that the seventh ROK-Japan Meeting of Director-Generals for Consular Affairs will take place in Busan on January 10.

In answer to your question about the prospect for high-level exchanges, including summit talks, between the ROK and Japan following Prime Minister Abe’s visit to the Yasukuni Shrine, let me repeat that it is inappropriate for me to foretell all such things right here. It is true, though, that, as Minister Yun mentioned at the National Assembly yesterday, Prime Minister Abe’s visit to the Yasukuni Shrine has exacerbated the already strained relations between the two countries.

I believe that the Japanese government is well aware of how this situation affects and will affect its relations with the ROK.

Q: I have a further question. Difficult as it seems to hold bilateral summits and other high-level meeting for the time being, is it the ROK government’s position that it will continue holding working-level and other consultations and/or contacts as necessary?

A: I think Japanese reporters have a habit of seeking very specific details. I am not saying that it is bad.

As I have just said, the already strained ROK-Japan relations have been exacerbated even further. And it is Prime Minister Abe’s visit to the Yasukuni Shrine that has caused this. I understand that the entire world is seeing the shrine visit in a very negative light. This is the current state of things. Please make your judgment based on this.

Q: Today is the last day of the year 2013, when the ROK government served as the chair of the ROK-China-Japan summit. Which country will serve as the chair of the trilateral summit from tomorrow?

A: To my understanding, relevant consultations are still under way.

I will conclude my last press briefing of the year 2013. Next year will be a year of horse. I wish all of you a very active, prosperous and happy new year. Thank you.


* unofficial translation