Good Morning, everybody. I would like to offer my personal hearty welcome to you all.

Distinguished Participants, Fellow Chiefs of Protocol, and Friends,

I would like to begin by extending to all of you a heartfelt welcome to the Second Global Chiefs of Protocol Conference.

It is my privilege and honour to open this very special meeting in Seoul attended by so many Chiefs of Protocol from around the world.

This morning I am particularly pleased to be back in the field of protocol, as I myself held the position of Chief of Protocol for about two years until the end of 2009.

I have to admit that I feel very envious of you today, since during my tenure there was no such a thing as a global Chiefs of Protocol Conference, so somebody must have come out with this wonderful idea. And I can well imagine how relaxed and how comfortable you are now travelling without your heads of state for a change.

I am pleased that Korea hosts the Second Conference of Chiefs of Protocol. We will do our best to make this meeting a success building upon the achievements of the First Conference, held in Washington D.C. two years ago.

Distinguished Colleagues and Friends,

Taking this opportunity, on behalf of the Korean Government and people, I would like to express our sincere appreciation to the 162 countries and International Organizations that have sent their condolences and messages of sympathy over the sinking of the ferry Sewol through diplomatic channels.

Your warm words of consolation has been a source of great encouragement and strength to the victims' families and more generally the Korean people.

Friends,

Today, we cannot talk about diplomacy without mentioning the role of protocol. In a globalized world, protocol has become a universal language, lingua franca, for carrying out diplomatic work by harmonizing diversities and differences in different cultures, societies and practices.

Not only the central government but also local governments, and increasingly private sector are developing their own versions of protocol. With the growing importance of multilateral summit diplomacy in recent years, I also note protocol's important role in ensuring the success of a multilateral summit.

It is against this background that we will focus on two main topics at today's gathering. That is "Culture and Heritage in Protocol" and "Multilateral Summits in 2014" - followed by four individual topics for the breakout sessions in the afternoon.

When I worked in the world of protocol, people would often ask me: What makes good protocol? Indeed, this question has been posed to many people in your profession in the field of diplomacy for as long as I remember.

Looking back upon my experience, I have noted a few points that might have some relevance to the question of what constitutes good protocol.

First, I believe protocol is important in setting the stage and setting the right tone as well as minimizing the distractions so as to ensure the successful summit diplomacy. 

Second, protocol starts with common sense and respect for others. It sounds very simple but we all know it can be difficult at times.

Third, it requires a high level of diplomatic skill, expertise and tradecraft which allow for very little margin of error and negligence. We fully understand that even an apparently minor blunder can lead to significant consequences.

Fourth, protocol should be able to ensure efficient coordination, which is a delicate and challenging task in diplomacy.

And ultimately protocol aims at creating a proper environment where elements of diplomacy can be successfully orchestrated. Surely, there still may be divergent views on the principles and elements of diplomatic protocol in light of cultural and contextual differences we are facing. However, by pooling and sharing experiences and expertise, today I hope we will all be able to find some answers to this common question. 

Friends,
A new trend in diplomacy has emerged in recent decades, which has greatly influenced and changed the work of ours.

In the past, diplomacy and accompanying protocol had been mostly at the level of bilateral diplomacy. The emergence of multilateral summit diplomacy has made our job even more difficult and more complicated. You may well understand this since you may have often struggled with some mundane questions such as an insufficient number of passes, or assigned hotel rooms and an unbelievably small motorcade while preparing for the large-scale multilateral summits. All face these challenges day-in and day-out.

However, we have witnessed the rapid expansion of multilateral summits with the recent addition of the Nuclear Security Summit and the G-20 Summit to the already existing various regional and issue-based summit meetings. For Korea, we have a long list of multilateral summits such as the UN Climate Summit, APEC, ASEAN+3/EAS, and the G20 in the second half of this year alone. So my friend, Ambassador Choe, our chief of protocol, has his hands full with his challenges.

With the expansion of multilateral summits, protocol is expected to have an even greater role to play. At the same time, we are called upon to cope with a larger expectation and demand.

As you may remember, Korea hosted the G20 Seoul Summit in 2010 when I was working as Chief of Protocol myself and again the Seoul Nuclear Security Summit in 2012. It is my view that hosting these events were not just daunting tasks to us, but they were opportunities to enhance the capacity of Korean diplomacy, not to mention that of protocol.

Apart from the diplomatic perspective, the rise of multilateral summits has newly spurred public interest to the so-called MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions) industries in Korea. This holds all the more importance for us, as the Park Geun-hye Government of Korea placed much emphasis on promoting creative and knowledge-based industries for the future of my country.

Distinguished Participants and Friends,

I believe that tomorrow many of you will have the unique opportunity to pay a visit to the demilitarized zone (DMZ). The DMZ is an ultimate misnomer since the DMZ is one of the most heavily fortified and heavily armed areas in the world today. The DMZ is actually located within 50 kilometers of Seoul. This area stood as a physical symbol of the national division of the Korean Peninsula for the last almost 70 years. Now the Korean government is pursuing a new vision for the DMZ, turning it into a symbol of peace by building an international peace park inside the zone. So we have made our proposal and are waiting for a positive reply from the other side. We are working cooperatively with the United States and the United Nations on this.

I would like to take this opportunity to briefly outline our key policies on pursuing sustainable peace and ultimately the unification of the Korean Peninsula.

The Park Geun-hye Government has put forward the Trust-Building Process on the Korean Peninsula Initiative. This policy initiative aims to  develop inter-Korean relations, establishing sustainable peace on the Peninsula and laying the groundwork for a eventual peaceful unification.

The Korean Government has been exerting sincere efforts to establish peace on the Korean Peninsula and also to foster a spirit of cooperation in the region as well. Needless to say, the greatest obstacle to this vision of peace and cooperation is North Korea's insistence on claiming the status of a nuclear weapon state and its pursuit of a nuclear weapons program and other dangerous weapons of mass destruction.

It is true that Korea's path to unification and sustainable peace for that matter will be rather difficult. In this challenging environment, President PARK made a 3-point proposal this march this year in Dresden during her state visit to Germany.

Let me briefly touch upon these three concrete and action-oriented proposals. The first one is the agenda for humanity, to resolve the humanitarian concerns of the people on the North. The second one is the agenda for co-prosperity, to build infrastructure for the welfare and well-being of the peoples and for the co-prosperity of the two Koreas. The last one is the agenda for integration, to promote the integration of the Korean people by promoting some projects that can actually reach out to the North Korean people while minimizing direct benefit to the North Korean regime.

Even with this historic challenge facing the Korean people, it is our firm belief that the long-cherished dream of a unified Korea will serve the interests of our neighbors, our friendly countries and those of the international community as a matter of fact.

Some are naturally skeptical to changes on the Korean Peninsula. Yet, as spoken by Nelson Mandela, former President of South Africa and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, in response to those who questioned the path to freedom, and he said I quote "It always seems impossible until it's done."

Indeed this is the spirit we are carrying with in pursing our national goal of peace, cooperation and ultimate unification of the Peninsula. And this is the message that I want you to carry with you on your visit to the DMZ tomorrow.

Distinguished Chiefs of Protocol and Friends,

People of protocol are destined to live in a world in which there is no second chance, seemingly unfair, given that history cannot be rehearsed and repeated at any cost.

In addition, it is deemed to be a well respected trait of good protocol that remains invisible and silent. So when we do good jobs, nobody seems to notice. When we do bad jobs or one mistake, everybody notices. Not very fair.

But today I want to emphasize that it does not necessarily mean that your dedication and service will go unrecognized and unsung. Again I now recognize your impeccable professionalism in the field of protocol, seeing you fulfilling the dress code even in these actually hot and humid summer days in Seoul. I salute you for that and all the other valuable services that you are doing for your countries.
 
Dear Colleagues,

In closing, on behalf of the Government and the people of Korea, let me welcome you again and extend sincere thanks for your cooperation and support for the Seoul Global Chiefs of Protocol Conference.

It is also my sincere hope that you may enjoy the beauty and flavors of Korean culture during your short but I am sure pleasant stay in Korea.

I wish you every success in your future undertakings.

Thank you very much!
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