160802_maltakorea_art1.jpg

Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat (left) and Minister of Foreign Affairs Yun Byung-se (second from right) meet in Valletta during Minister Yun’s official visit to the country on July 29.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Yun Byung-se visited the nation of Malta on July 29, the first time for a Korean foreign minister to do so since the two countries established diplomatic relations in 1965.

Minister Yun held meetings with Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and with Foreign Minister George William Vella. On the agenda for both meetings were issues surrounding North Korean nuclear weapons and missiles, and measures to strengthen sanctions against North Korea.

The prime minister and Minister Yun shared their opinions on ways to increase cooperation between their two countries, and discussed North Korea’s nuclear weapons and missile threats, as well as the problem of North Korean laborers sent abroad to work overseas. They talked about the U.K.’s withdrawal from the European Union and issues surrounding the refugee crisis and global terrorism.

Addressing the human rights issues associated with North Korean forced laborers employed overseas, Minister Yun urged the Maltese government to lend its support to stopping such abuses.

The prime minister said, “The Maltese government firmly disapproves of the human rights violations committed against North Korean laborers. We’re working to play our part in resolving these pressing issues.”

160802_maltakorea_art2.jpg

Maltese Foreign Minister George William Vella (second from left) engages in diplomatic talks with Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se on July 29 in Malta.

During the diplomatic talks between the two nations’ foreign ministers, the threat of North Korean nuclear weapons and missiles was once again the topic of discussion. Maltese Foreign Minister Vella said, “As our nation holds the presidency of the Council of the European Union in 2017, Malta will try its best to fulfill the implementation of U.N. Security Council Resolution No. 2270 so that all EU member states can successfully impose sanctions on North Korea.”

The ministers then turned the conversation to issues such as the U.K.’s withdrawal from the EU, relations between Syria, Israel and Palestine, the situation in the Middle East and North Africa, and the dispute over the South China Sea. The two nations, as members of the Uniting for Consensus (UfC), a U.N. reform movement, agreed to cooperate on matters relating to the U.N. Security Council.

By Lee Hana
Korea.net Staff Writer
Photos: Ministry of Foreign Affairs
hlee10@korea.kr