Welcoming Address
by H.E. Cho Tae-yul
Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs
of the Republic of Korea
at the International Seminar to Commemorate
the 20th Anniversary of the Arctic Council

July 1, 2016
Ambassador Mark Lippert,
Distinguished Participants,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

I would like to welcome all of you to the international seminar commemorating the 20th anniversary of the Arctic Council.

Let me first express my special thanks to Ambassador Lippert and other colleagues from diplomatic community in Seoul for being here with us today, and to the distinguished foreign experts who have travelled a long way to join us at this meaningful event.

Today’s seminar holds a special meaning for Korea as it is the first international seminar on the Arctic to be hosted by the Korean government since it joined the Arctic Council as a permanent observer in 2013.

Standing at this podium, I find myself back to three years ago when I visited Ny-Alesund, a small town in Svalbard archipelago of Norway located at 79.5 degrees north latitude, to participate in the international symposium on the Arctic.

The Arctic I encountered in Ny-Alesund, only 1,000 km away from the North Pole, was no longer a mystical land one meets in fables or literature, or an undiscovered land off the beaten tracks. It was already at the forefront of research in state-of-the-art science and technology.

At the Arctic Dasan Station that Korea founded in Ny-Alesund back in 2002, I met two Korean scientists immersed in their research works, together with their counterparts from more than 20 countries around the world. I stayed a couple of hours with them chatting and sharing the Kimchi I brought from Seoul.

The three days I spent in Ny-Alesund including at Dasan Station were among the most exciting and unforgettable experiences in my life and I left the exotic town deeply impressed by the scientists’ enlightened professionalism and sense of mission for the future of humanity.

Distinguished Guests,

The Arctic is a region most vulnerable to climate change where temperature is rising two times faster than the world average, causing enormous changes in the ecosystem across the globe.

The Arctic Ocean, which accounts for only 3.3 percent of the world’s sea, is controlling the climate of the entire planet and, for this reason, former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev referred to the Arctic as the ‘weather kitchen’.

The reason why UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon visited the Arctic twice during his terms of office was also to highlight the importance of the Arctic in combatting climate change -- the “defining challenge of our time”.

If the polar ice continues to melt, the sea level which has already been rising due to global warming will rise even faster, and, in turn, major cities such as Busan, Shanghai, and New York will be devastated by floods in the not-so-distant future.

For the small island countries in the South Pacific, climate change is an issue of their very survival as they can even submerge underwater and eventually disappear.

It appears to me that the Arctic, which had refused to grant access to humankind for thousands of years, is now on the verge of finally raising the white flag due to the greenhouse gases that humans have been emitting for only 300 years since the industrial revolution.

Would it be stretching the imagination a bit too far, if the current reality in the Arctic reminds me of the fate of Frankenstein, who ended up losing his loving family and even his own life for failing to control the monster he had created?

There is, however, another perspective on climate change which is not fatalistic at all: the melting of the Arctic ice is a menacing challenge, but if we fight against it in concerted efforts, there is no reason why we cannot defeat it.

As every cloud has a silver lining, the melting of the Arctic ice is providing new opportunities for the future of humanity as well. This is why the Arctic is being compared to “green growth, blue possibilities”.

The Arctic Ocean is a source of abundant fishery resources as well as diverse energy resources that can support future generations. According to the 2008 U.S. statistics, it has reserves of 30 percent and 13 percent of the world’s undiscovered natural gas and oil, respectively.

On top of this, the Arctic sea routes that will open up as the Arctic ice melts will save costs and shipping distance between Asia and Europe by more than 30 percent.

When the Arctic sea routes become navigable for every six months in summer by 2020 and all year-round by 2030, 25 percent of container trade between Asia and Europe will take place along the Arctic sea routes, particularly the Northern Sea Route.

Indeed, a ‘new Arctic age’ will be ushered in where the Arctic Ocean turns into another Mediterranean Sea for the common use of the countries in Europe, East Asia and North America.

If we join our efforts, the day will definitely come when we achieve the sustainability of the Arctic development and that will be the time when the Arctic begins to serve not only as the ‘weather kitchen’, but also as the ‘wealthy kitchen for mankind’ that will sustain the future of humanity.

Distinguished Guests,

The Arctic policy of the Korean government constitutes a major pillar of its Eurasia Initiative, a vision for a united, peaceful and prosperous Eurasian continent.

With this vision in mind, the master plan on the Arctic was designed for the first time in October 2013, and seven concerned ministries and government agencies have come up with their respective action plans to implement it.

The master plan presents four strategic tasks focused respectively on international cooperation, scientific research and development, creation of new business opportunities, and institutional base expansion.

Among other things, the Korean government has been striving to play a greater role in enhancing international cooperation for the environmental protection and sustainable development of the Arctic region.

By creating a new position of Ambassador for Arctic Affairs last year, our representation at the Arctic-related international conferences, including the Arctic Council, has been elevated. Multilayered cooperation networks have also been built with the members and observers of the Arctic Council and continued to be strengthened over the past couple of years.

In particular, the Arctic cooperation has become an important element of the “new frontiers” of the Korea-US global partnership which was agreed upon during President Park’s visit to the U.S. in October last year.

A trilateral dialogue on the Arctic among China, Japan and Korea has also been underway since the trilateral summit in November last year.

Korea is also actively participating in the efforts to create new international norms in the Arctic, such as the negotiations for the Agreement to Prevent Unregulated High Seas Fisheries in the Central Arctic Ocean.
The Arctic cooperation should not end in empty rhetoric, but lead to substantial results. To ensure this, the Korean government, working closely with the Korea Polar Research Institute (KOPRI) and Korea Maritime Institute (KMI), has been pursuing concrete projects in a range of areas, including science and research and cooperation with the indigenous people in the Arctic region.

For joint international research, KOPRI set up observation posts in four countries -- the US, Canada, Norway and Greenland, and plans to establish additional posts in more than two countries.
Two weeks later, KMI will host the Arctic Academy in Busan for indigenous students of the Arctic region, while an expert meeting of the Arctic Council’s Protection of the Arctic Marine Environment (PAME) will be held in Seoul at the end of this year.

By making use of the Dasan Station, ice-breaking research vessel Araon, and the second ice-breaker to be built in the near future, Korea will continue to contribute to scientific research in the Arctic and utilize the advanced technologies accumulated in such areas as shipbuilding, shipping, on-and off-shore plant, and infrastructure construction, for purposes of the Arctic cooperation.
Ladies and Gentlemen,

In order to respond to the Arctic Paradox where both challenges and opportunities co-exist, a multilateral approach backed by the concerted efforts of the international community is critical.

Commemorating the 20th anniversary this year, the Arctic Council, as the central player of the Arctic governance, has been effectively spearheading international cooperation in the areas of environmental protection, sustainable development, and welfare of the indigenous people in the Arctic, in line with the spirit of the 1996 Ottawa Declaration.
In particular, the Arctic Council has been playing an important role in maintaining the Arctic as a ‘zone of peace’.

Going forward, cooperation between the Arctic and the non-Arctic states is critical to protect the environment of the Arctic, address climate change and promote sustainable development around the world.

Guggenheim Partners, a global consulting firm, estimated the demand for infrastructure in the Arctic region to reach 1 trillion U.S. dollars for the next 15 years, which is beyond the capacities of the Arctic states alone.

Further, we need to develop safe, eco-friendly and high-quality shipbuilding and navigation technology for the commercialization of the Arctic sea routes, and cooperation between the Arctic and the non-Arctic countries is essential for activities such as search and rescue operation.

Therefore, in the course of the next twenty years, the structure of the Arctic Council should develop into a more open and inclusive one so that non-Arctic observer states can make greater contributions to the Council’s activities.

First of all, different criteria for the participation of observer states for each working group and taskforce should be modified for greater consistency and transparency.

We also hope that the Arctic Council’s Agreement on Enhancing International Arctic Scientific Cooperation, which is currently being discussed, will be drawn up in a way that encourages the contribution of non-Arctic states. It is also important to come up with specific plans to allow observer states to participate in the Arctic Economic Council.

An Icelandic proverb says, “On thin ice everybody has the same strength.” To cope with the enormous challenges of the Arctic, non-Arctic countries should be invited to play a greater role working together with the Arctic countries.

As a country possessed of science and technology, the key to resolving the Arctic Paradox, Korea will continue to be engaged in serious internal debate on what Korea can and should do to ensure the sustainable future of the Arctic and humanity as a whole.

I hope that today’s seminar will serve as an opportunity to provide new momentum for our common efforts towards this end.

Thank you. /END/