Press Briefing

Spokesperson and Deputy Minister for Public Affairs Soosuk Lim

November 7, 2023  14:30  KST

Good afternoon. Let me start today’s briefing.

Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Chang Ho-jin will chair the third Korea-Central America Special Roundtable on Wednesday, November 8.

The upcoming event will be co-hosted by Korea and El Salvador, the chair of the Central American Integration System (SICA) for the second half of this year, and bring together the vice foreign ministers of six countries including Belize, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala and Honduras, as well as delegates of the United States, Spain and Mexico, Korea's major cooperative partners for development cooperation in Central America.

The forthcoming Roundtable is expected to serve as an opportunity to further strengthen Korea’s role as a global pivotal state that contributes to the sustainable development of Central America and promotion of mutually beneficial cooperation with the region.

On the sidelines of the Roundtable, Vice Minister Chang Ho-jin will hold bilateral meetings with his counterparts from six Central American countries and discuss with them ways to promote bilateral ties and friendship and to expand substantive cooperation as well as regional and global cooperation.

Moving on, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Oh Youngju will visit Jamaica, Grenada and Saint Lucia from November 7 to 10 to seek a stronger Korea-Caribbean cooperation and support for Korea’s bid to host World Expo 2030 in Busan.

As head of a delegation for development cooperation, Vice Minister Oh will meet with high-level officials of those countries and explore ways to promote substantive cooperation.

(A question-and-answer session followed.)