< Table of Contents > ● President Park and French President Hollande Hold Summit (11.4) ● President Park Meets with French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault (11.4) ● President Park Attends Korea-France Business Forum (11.4) ● President Park checks out Renault's electric car (11.4) ● President Park visits Musée d'Orsay (11.3) ● President Park, UNESCO discuss cooperation (11.3) ● President Park enjoys drama party with French fans (11.3) ● President Park emphasizes Korea-France cooperation (11.3)

● President Park and French President Hollande Hold Summit



President Park Geun-hye and French President François Hollande held a summit followed by a luncheon on November 4 local time. During their meeting, they discussed a variety of issues, including ways to expand trade and investment through the seamless implementation of the Korea-EU FTA; to identify new growth engines through collaboration in such areas as a creative economy and new industries of the future; and to promote the creative culture industry and cultural exchanges to realize the goal of cultural enrichment. The two leaders reached an agreement to give more concrete shape to mutually beneficial, cooperative ties between the two countries, including joint efforts in dealing with global issues such as regional conflicts. President Park also obtained the support of France for her Administration’s trust-building process on the Korean Peninsula and Northeast Asia Peace and Cooperation Initiative.

President Park said she was pleased to make an official visit to France as the first destination of her first European trip since her inauguration. She also expressed the hope that Korea and France, an optimal partner in Korea's major endeavors to embody a creative economy, cultural enrichment and the foundation for peaceful unification, would be able to further deepen the friendly partnership of trust.

Notably, President Park said that she had expressed her appreciation to France on the 60th anniversary of the Korean War Armistice this year by laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Paris along with some Korean War veterans. She continued that the Republic of Korea has been able to achieve the prosperity it enjoys today thanks to good friends like France, which sent troops to fight during the war.

President Hollande said he wholeheartedly welcomed the visit by President Park who has a special affinity with France. He also expressed the hope that her visit this time would serve as a remarkable turning point for the progress of Korea-France relations.

The two heads of state agreed that the two nations should increase trade while stepping up cooperation in areas of mutual interest and facilitating the advancement of businesses into each other's markets. At the same time, they saw eye to eye on the need to boost trade and investment by improving the business investment conditions. To this end, the two leaders reached an agreement to conclude an accord to simplify visa-processing procedures by the end of 2014 to provide mutual support for businessmen and intern workers. As far as the law allows, the simplification of visa issuance would start to be carried out even before the signing of the relevant accord.

☞ Full Text of the Article

● President Park Meets with French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault



President Park Geun-hye attended a dinner hosted by French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault as the final event on the itinerary of her official visit to France. During their meeting, they discussed a variety of issues of mutual interest, including cooperation in culture and education sectors, ways to improve conditions for the expansion of trade and investment and the necessity of identifying new growth engines through collaboration in such areas as a creative economy and cutting-edge industries.

Praising France as a country strong in culture and arts as well as having the world's top-class capabilities in basic science and cutting-edge technologies, President Park referred to the country as Korea's optimal partner in the quest for a creative economy and cultural enrichment. She noted tangible results of creative cooperation between the two nations in the cultural sector, including the making of movies out of two French novels Le Transperceneige (Snowpiercer) and Les Fourmis (The Ants). She went on to say that consultations between the two countries should commence at the earliest possible date to discuss in detail ways to promote bilateral collaboration, including the co-hosting of a culture and industry forum bringing together government organizations and businesses from both nations.

President Park and Prime Minister Ayrault said many events to be held during the 2015-2016 year of mutual exchanges between the two countries celebrating the 130th anniversary of diplomatic ties would be greatly instrumental in deepening friendship and expanding people-to-people exchanges. The two leaders reached an agreement to continue to work hard together to turn the occasion into a major venue for exchanges not only in culture and arts, for which the two governments are currently discussing the organization of several events, but also in various other areas such as politics, the economy and education.

President Park and Prime Minister Ayrault shared a common understanding that France, which is known for world-class science and technology, and Korea, which is making great achievements in ICT and science and technology, have optimal complementary strengths. In this connection, they agreed to make efforts to generate increased synergy through cooperation.

☞ Full Text of the Article

● President Park Attends Korea-France Business Forum



President Park Geun-hye, who visited France, attended the France-Korea Business Forum co-hosted by the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI) and the Mouvement des entreprises de France (MEDEF, or the Movement of the Enterprises of France).

Attendees at the Forum from the French side were some 120 key business leaders, including Mr. Pierre Gattaz, MEDEF President, and Mr. Louis Gallois, Chairman of the France-Korea High Level Businessmen's Club.

On hand at the Forum from the Korean business community were a delegation of some 120 business leaders, including Mr. Huh Chang-soo, Chairman of the FKI, and Mr. Cho Yang-ho, Chairman of the Korea-France High Level Businessmen's Club.

In her keynote speech at the Forum, President Park outlined her vision of realizing a creative economy and crafting a new economic framework through the creative fusion in both countries of different ideas with culture, technologies and industries. She also highlighted the necessity for business leaders of both nations to take interest and make efforts in the three areas that have great potential for collaboration to realize a creative economy: the new industries of the future, the culture industry and SME/venture businesses.

☞ Click to Watch President's Speech

President Park first said that it was necessary to make enhanced efforts to deal with various global issues facing humanity through science and technology. The President went on to say that the combination of France's advanced basic science and aerospace and energy technologies with Korea's state-of-the-art IT and the abilities to commercialize technologies would accelerate the growth of new industries of the future in a large way.

Mentioning the recent movie Snowpiercer, a Korean sci-fi action thriller film based on the French cartoon, the President emphatically said the two nations needed to make efforts to identify new business and opportunities to further develop industries through cooperation in the culture industry by means of, for instance, the combination of France's cultural capacities with the cutting-edge IT of Korea, which is well known for its abundant cultural assets.



Last, on the topic of economic cooperation, the President explained that 26 representatives from small and medium-sized enterprises had joined her on this visit to France. She said she hoped that Korea and France would be able to go beyond the economic cooperation of the past, which centered on large-scale bilateral infrastructure projects, including airplanes in the '70s, nuclear energy in the '80s, high-speed rail in the '90s and defense during the most recent decade, for strengthened cooperation focusing on small and medium-sized enterprises. The President continued that she hoped this would allow for these enterprises to expand their markets to third-party countries.

At the conclusion of her remarks, the President recalled a saying by the celebrated French writer Anatole France: "To accomplish great things we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe." With this, she called for France and Korea to come together from their respective places on opposite ends of the Eurasian continent to open a future of shared prosperity by carrying out cooperation for a creative economy.

● President Park checks out Renault's electric car

President Park Geun-hye visited Renault's Z.E. Centre in Boulogne-Billancourt on the outskirts of Paris on November 4 during her official trip to France. President Park examined the LG Chem batteries installed in Renault's electric cars and inspected the company's small electric vehicle (EV), the two-seater Twizy.



With President Park present, LG Chem and Renault, one of the leading manufacturers of EVs, agreed to sign a joint innovation contract in the near future to co-develop Renault's next generation EV by tapping LG Chem's battery cell technology.

LG Chem is the world's leading manufacturer of EV batteries for mid-sized and large automobiles and is supplying the batteries that power Renault's three lines of EVs, the Twizy, the Zoe and the Fluence. This partnership has been successful in Korea, France and around the world.

President Park delivered words of encouragement as she listened to French Deputy Minister Fleur Pellerin, in charge of small- and medium-sized enterprises, innovation and the digital economy, and to Renault Chairman and CEO Carlos Ghosn as they spoke about the future development of EVs and the automobile market in general.

President Park emphasized the importance of electric vehicles as a way to solve global warming and as a response to insufficient energy resources. She said she hoped that Renault and LG Chem could cooperate with each other to co-develop the next generation of EVs and point the way to the future for an environmentally-friendly auto business.

Speaking of the two companies' partnership, President Park also said that if the two countries can cooperate and build on each other's strengths in other areas, they could find ways that are mutually beneficial to achieve success in third countries.



● President Park visits Musée d'Orsay

President Park Geun-hye visited the Musée d'Orsay in Paris on November 3 during her official visit to France. The museum is one of the top three museums in the country, along with the Louvre Museum and the Pompidou Centre.

The president admired well-known paintings by famous 19th century Impressionists such as Paul Cézanne, Claude Monet, Edouard Manet and Pierre-Auguste Renoir.

Guided by the museum’s curator Claire Bernardi, President Park was shown paintings such as “The Luncheon on the Grass” by Manet, “Water Lilies” by Monet and “Still Life with Apples and Oranges” by Cézanne. She also enjoyed paintings from Jean François Millet, a well known Naturalist known for "The Angelus" and "The Gleaners," and works by Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, a Neoclassical painter.



Since her inauguration in February, President Park has always emphasized the importance of mutual communication and understanding through culture. Her visit to the Musée d'Orsay, Cheong Wa Dae explained, is in line with this belief: that Korea can build better communication and form closer relations with France by understanding and respecting its culture and art.



● President Park, UNESCO discuss cooperation

President Park Geun-hye met with UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova on November 3 in Paris to exchange opinions on enhancing Korea-UNESCO cooperation during the president’s official visit to France.

Mentioning the UNESCO Constitution, which says, “That since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defences of peace must be constructed,” President Park said that she agrees with UNESCO’s ideal to build world peace through the understanding of different cultures, intellectual exchanges and education.

While introducing her administration’s cultural enrichment administrative priority, President Park said that Korea hopes to continue its close cooperation with UNESCO. “Since 1950 when we joined the UN body, Korea has always regarded UNESCO as a good partner that has contributed to world peace and to the welfare of the human race through culture, education and intellectual exchanges,” she said.



The president also asked for the UNESCO chief to take an interest in and support the Korea-UNESCO joint cooperation projects in the education and world heritage sectors, expressing her hope that mutually beneficial relations between Korea and UNESCO can develop in a future-oriented manner.

UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova responded that Korea is well aware of the value of peace, as it has experienced war firsthand. The UNESCO head said that UNESCO and Korea cooperate closely across numerous activities and pursue the same values and agendas.

Bokova cited Korea’s efforts to preserve its traditional culture as, “an excellent example.” She praised both the government’s aims to create new jobs and to pursue social integrity, economic development and creativity in sectors like architecture and design, and its cultural modernization, which combines industry and culture.

In regard to UNESCO’s recent recommendation to include kimchi and kimjang, the dish itself and the making of it, on its list of intangible cultural heritage items, President Park said that UNESCO must be balanced in its role to promote cultural diversity from across the world.

The UNESCO director-general accepted President Park’s invitation to visit Korea next year when the Korean National Commission for UNESCO will mark its 60th anniversary.



● President Park enjoys drama party with French fans

President Park Geun-hye began her itinerary on November 3 when she participated in a Korean drama party hosted by the local hallyu fan club Bonjour Corée, or “Hello Korea.”

The drama party was held at the Pierre Cardin cultural center in downtown Paris, near the Champs-Élysées. The event showcased K-pop song and dance routines, including performances by participants in the recent K-Pop World Festival held in October. There were drama viewings, including episodes from the series “You Are Beautiful,” “The Moon Embracing The Sun,” and “Gagsital.” Those three series had been chosen as favorites by Bonjour Corée members. Finally, there was a singing of drama theme songs and a Korean drama quiz show.





● President Park emphasizes Korea-France cooperation

In an interview with French daily Le Figaro, President Park Geun-hye emphasized the long-lasting Korea-France diplomatic relationship and pushed measures to boost bilateral cooperation.

She spoke of her creative economy vision, South Korea’s stance on North Korean issues and her Korean Peninsula trust-building process as well as her personal life in the interview “Park Geun-hye: France is the best partner for Korea” (unofficial translation), which the French daily published on November 3 prior to her arrival in France.

When asked the reason for choosing France as the first country for her presidential visit to Europe, President Park said that France is one of Korea’s most important European partners and that the two countries have been developing closer relations for more than 130 years. She emphasized that there are many ways to boost bilateral cooperation between Korea and France, while expressing her thanks for France’s participation in the Korean War (1950-1953) and mentioning her personal experience of studying in the country when she was young.



☞ Full Text of the Article

*Source: http://www.korea.net

             http://english.president.go.kr (Cheong Wa Dae Website)