1. On November 30, Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se held a working luncheon with EU Ambassador Gerhard Sabathil and the heads of diplomatic missions from 21 EU member states in the Republic of Korea. Over the luncheon, the diplomats exchanged views on the ROK-EU relations, situations in diverse regions of the world, and global cooperation.

2. With regard to the ROK-EU relations, Minister Yun took note of close bilateral cooperation across the board since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1963 and the ongoing development of the bilateral ties into strategic partnership.

° In particular, the Minister, citing the ROK-EU Framework Agreement and FTA concluded in 2010 and “the ROK-EU Framework Agreement for the Participation of Korea in EU Crisis Management Operations” to enter into force on December 1, noted that the ROK and the EU are seeing their cooperation grow mainly in the fields of government affairs, economy and security.

° The Ambassadors from the EU and its member states forecast that the bilateral Framework Agreement for the Participation of Korea in EU Crisis Management Operations, when in force, will serve as an institutional foundation for the two sides to broaden the scope of their cooperation to include crisis management. They also voiced hope for an early participation of the ROK’s Cheonghae Unit in the EU’s counter-piracy operation in Somalia, dubbed the Atlanta operation.

3. Minister Yun attached significance to the working luncheon as one arranged to seek stronger partnership with EU member states, which have taken a leading part in international efforts to resolve the North Korean nuclear issue, at a time when the UN Security Council was about to adopt a new resolution on the North. He stressed that along with the US, Japan and Australia, the EU is one of the ROK government’s most significant partners in its efforts to enforce across-the-board sanctions, including under Security Council resolutions and unilateral ones imposed by major countries, and to put pressure on North Korea, including on the global level.

4. Minister Yun enumerated the series of measures the EU has taken toward North Korea, including its unprecedentedly tough sanctions against North Korea announced on May 28; its designation of North Korea and ten other countries as “high-risk third countries with strategic deficiencies in anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing,” announced on July 14; and its discussions on unilateral sanctions it would impose on the North after the adoption of a new Security Council sanctions resolution. Calling these measures effective and totally different from those of the past, the Minister pointed out that they, together with significant steps led by the ROK and the US in 2016, are producing synergistic effect.

° He mentioned that North Korea, which is attempting to break diplomatic isolation and solve its economic problem, considers the EU as a main gateway to the Western world. On that note, he highlighted the greater-than-ever importance of the EU’s role in a holistic approach to North Korean issues ranging from its human rights issue, including the one that concerns North Korean workers abroad and is drawing the ROK’s attention, to the influx of outside information into the North.

5. The working luncheon with the heads of diplomatic missions from the EU member countries in the ROK is symbolic of strong ROK-EU cooperation on the ROK’s efforts to sanction and pressure North Korea across the board in cooperation with the international community.

° Over the years, the ROK upgraded its relations with the UK, France, Germany and other EU countries to the level of quasi-partnership and had strategic communication with the EU at the summit, foreign ministerial and other high levels on the occasion of bilateral and multilateral events. As a result of such efforts, the EU has become an important pillar in terms of the ROK’s efforts to sanction and pressure North Korea.

6. Minister Yun also engaged in an extensive exchange of views with the mission chiefs on the situation on the Korean Peninsula as well as ways for the ROK and the EU to work more closely together on such global issues as climate change, the refugee crisis, development and trade.


* unofficial translation