1. On June 7, Minister of Foreign Affairs Kang Kyung-wha participated in the “GLOBSEC 2019 Bratislava Forum” held at the Grand Hotel River Park in Bratislava, the Slovak Republic, and held a “fireside chat” with Managing Editor of Foreign Affairs, Justin Vogt, under the theme “Korean Peninsula: Keeping the train on track.”

2. During the discussion, Minister Kang explained the position of the government of the Republic of Korea by answering questions regarding various issues including the grounds for optimism despite the stalled dialogue between the United States and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea since the Hanoi summit, the Trump administration’s approach to denuclearization, North Korea’s intentions on denuclearization, and the unacceptability of recognizing North Korea as a nuclear weapon state.

3. The Forum brought together a large number of key politicians and government officials from many European countries, including the members of the Visegrad Group (V4). It was assessed that Minister Kang’s participation in the Forum provided an opportunity to draw attention to the North Korean nuclear issue as a global concern in Central Europe, where there has been relatively little discussion on issues concerning the Korean Peninsula, and to better understand the ROK government’s efforts to achieve complete denuclearization and establish permanent peace on the Korean Peninsula.

* unofficial translation