President Moon Jae-in on Jan. 21 heads to the presidential plane Code One at Cairo International Airport in Egypt after completing his three-Arab nation tour of the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. (Cheong Wa Dae’s official Facebook page)
By Xu Aiying and Lee Jihae
President Moon has visited 56 countries and held 141 diplomatic meetings over his five-year term since assuming office in May 2017.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Feb. 22 announced the results of the president’s summit diplomacy and follow-up measures at a Cabinet meeting he chaired.
Since taking office, the chief executive has held 141 diplomatic summits by making trips to 56 countries, hosting 56 visits by VIPs to Korea and holding 29 summits or meetings through videoconferencing.
The ministry said he laid the foundation for complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and settlement of peace through close cooperation with the U.S. and conducted cooperative diplomacy with the four neighboring countries of the U.S., China, Japan and Russia.
“President Moon widened the nation’s diplomatic prospects and secured new growth engines by briskly promoting the New Southern Policy and New Northern Policy and boosting cooperation with Central and South America, Africa and the Middle East,” it added.
“He was invited to the G7 (Group of Seven) summit for two straight years and became the first president to attend the United Nations General Assembly for five years in a row,” the ministry said. “He strengthened Korea’s role in the international community as a responsible nation.”
Through summit diplomacy, it added, President Moon supported foreign advances by Korean corporations in a variety of sectors including infrastructure, the defense industry and supply chains and created future growth engines.
The ministry cited as a leading example Korea’s contract last month worth USD 3.5 billion with the United Arab Emirates to export the midrange surface-to-air missiles Cheongung II, Korea’s largest deal of its kind for a single weapon.
Also mentioned were deals to export Korea’s K9 self-propelled howitzers during the president’s visits to Egypt (last month) and Australia (December last year).
Other accomplishments cited were his leading position in cooperation to respond to the global health crisis due to the COVID-19 pandemic and stronger collaboration with allies in health and vaccination.
“The government will fully implement its follow-up diplomacy measures until the end of this government’s term,” the ministry said. “We will pass on the best results to the next administration.
xuaiy@korea.kr
