1. As a side event of the 2015 Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Asian Conference under way in Seoul from June 1 to 2, the Foreign Ministry hosted on June 1 a special session on the Northeast Asia Peace and Cooperation Initiative (NAPCI) themed “NAPCI and the OSCE’s experience in confidence and security-building measures (CSBMs).”

2. In his opening remarks, Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs Kim Hong-kyun mentioned that the creation of NAPCI had been inspired by the Helsinki Final Act, which marks its 40th anniversary in 2015. In addition, he conveyed hope that the session would serve as a meaningful opportunity for the ROK to learn from abundant experiences in multilateral security cooperation and expertise of the OSCE, which is known as the most successful multilateral cooperative mechanism in history, and to draw policy suggestions on ways to successfully implement NAPCI.

3. Fred Tanner, Senior Advisor to the OSCE Secretary-General who delivered a presentation, commented that NAPCI would help vitalize multilateral cooperation in Northeast Asia. He went on to say that if NAPCI’s plug and play function with the UN and other multilateral organizations is enhanced, it would be able to serve as a “hub” for promoting multilateral cooperation on the global level.

4. The Korean presenter, Director-General for Policy Planning Shin Beom-chul of the Foreign Ministry, spoke about the progress in the implementation of NAPCI, relevant achievements and future plans. He mentioned that despite the differences in the security environments back when the Helsinki Process was under way and in current Northeast Asia, a multilateral cooperation mechanism similar to the OSCE, if and when successfully implemented in Northeast Asia, would help reap meaningful results proving the universal usefulness of experience in multilateral security cooperation that was initiated through the Helsinki Process. In that regard, he asked for attention and cooperation of the participants.

6. The participants, including OSCE Secretary-General Lamberto Zannier and delegates from the US, China, Japan, Russia and Mongolia -- countries taking part in NAPCI -- concurred in the great usefulness of the approach of NAPCI, which calls for discussing softer security issues first and gradually broadening the scope of cooperation in Northeast Asia, a region without any mechanism for multilateral security cooperation. They agreed to work closely with the ROK government in implementing NAPCI, including by learning from experiences of countries that had taken part in the OSCE’s efforts to enhance multilateral security cooperation.


* unofficial translation