[4th] March 08, 2008 Home | Full Contents | MOFAT Homepage   Minister’s Inauguration Mr. Yu Myung-hwan took office as the 35th Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of the Republic of Korea on February 29, 2008. In his inauguration speech, Minister Yu defined 'creative pragmatism' as "showing flexibility in details while sticking to the principles". 'Creative pragmatism' is the new catchphrase of the Lee Myung-bak Administration. He pledged to strengthen international cooperation based on the respect for universal values, such as democracy, market economy and human rights, through expansion of  contribution to the peace-keeping operations and official development assistance. Minister Yu stressed that the Korean government would establish concrete action plans for 'pragmatic diplomacy' at an early stage. While he underscored the importance of the Korea-US alliance and its development reflecting history of Korea and its geopolitical status, Minister Yu noted that strengthening Korea's strategic partnership with the US would not weaken Korea's relationship with China. He stated that viewing the strengthening of Korea-US alliance and improving Korea's relationship with Japan, China and Russia as a zero-sum game is the remnants of the Cold War era and that a new diplomatic paradigm is needed to replace the decade-old mentality of the Cold War era. In addition, he mentioned that Korea should broaden its diplomatic horizon over the Korean peninsula and Northeast Asia to other continents. Furthermore, establishment of strong diplomatic relationships with resource-abundant countries was stressed for stable supplies of energy resources.  Minister Yu joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1973, and has served as Spokesperson of the Ministry(1992), Director-General of American Affairs Bureau(1996), and Minister(Deputy Chief of Mission) of Korean Embassy in the United States of America(1998). Besides, he worked for the Office of the President as Secretary to the President for Foreign Affairs in 1995. After he served as Korean Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the State of Israel and the Republic of the Philippines, he took office as the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade in 2005. Until recently, he has served as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Japan since March 2007.  Mr. Kwon Jong-rak, the former Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Republic of Kenya(1999) and Ireland(2004), took office as the first Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Mr. Kim Sung-hwan, the former Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Republic of Uzbekistan(2002) and the Republic of Austria and Permanent Representatives to the International Organizations in Vienna(2006) did as the second one. UN Human Rights Council The 7th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council is currently being held in Geneva, Switzerland, from March 3 to 28. As the founding member of the Council since its establishment in June 2006, the Korean government has actively participated in the discussions on the major human rights issues, while addressing the institutional problems of the Council. Deputy Minister for International Organizations and Global Issues Park In-kook of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade attended the High-level Segment of this session as head of Korean delegation. High-level representatives including ministers or vice ministers from about 70 member states participated in this High-level Segment, and the respective delegations delivered keynote speeches on the works of the Human Rights Council, on its efforts to improve human rights situations in their countries, and on the assessment of global human rights situations.  In his speech on March 3, Deputy Minister Park stressed on the importance of making the Council an efficient, responsive and fair body with a result-focused approach in a spirit of dialogue and cooperation among the member states. He mentioned that "the Council should seek to find ways to encourage cooperation by providing technical assistance and capacity building to help governments willing to improve their human rights records", as well as "introduce realistic means to engage governments less willing or not positively responding to the concerns of the international community". In this regard, Deputy Minister Park noted that the Universal Periodic Review(UPR), the mechanism that will allow the records of all countries to be scrutinized from April 2008 on, is to serve a valuable tool in overcoming "politicization of human rights issues, selectivity and double standards", which were mainly criticized during the inter-governmental discussion on human rights issues. The Republic of Korea, scheduled to be reviewed in May through this mechanism of the Council, will launch a wide range of consultations among relevant ministries, the National Human Rights Commission and NGOs. Along with the aforementioned institutional issues of the Human Rights Council, Mr. Park addressed the grave human rights situations in Darfur and Myanmar. In particular, he called upon the Democratic People's Republic of Korea(DPRK) "to take appropriate measures to address the international community's concern", underscoring human rights as a "universal value". In 2006, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, the former Foreign Minister of the Republic of Korea and head of Korean delegation to the UN Human Rights Council at that time, noted the concerns over the human rights situation in the DPRK and called upon Pyongyang "to engage in human rights dialogue with the international community that would lead to technical and institutional cooperation." In 2007, the Korean government pledged to "continue to make efforts to bring about substantial improvements of conditions of life in the DPRK" in line with its policy of inter-Korean reconciliation and cooperation.  Korea’s FTA Policies As President Lee Myung-bak mentioned in his inauguration speech, liberalization is a trend that cannot be back-pedalled, and a free trade agreement(FTA) is one of the most essential means for increasing the national wealth. Thus, the new administration will continue to promote FTAs as the top trade policy priority. Although FTA policy has been one of the top priorities among trade policy agenda since the beginning of the administration led by President Kim Dae Jung, as of now, trade covered by FTA still remains at 9% of its total trade.  The coverage will slightly exceed 20%, once the Korea-U.S. FTA comes into effect. However, considering that trade among FTA partners take up 50~55% of the world's trade, Korea still has a long way to go.  With this in mind, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade(MOFAT) has decided upon the following concerning President Lee Myung-bak's FTA objectives: First, it will continue to exert efforts to ratify the Korea-US FTA at the earliest date possible. Second, it will focus on the currently undergoing FTA negotiations to be swiftly concluded, and Lastly, it will continue to expand the FTAs with major trading partners. In terms of implementing these objectives, the Ministry plans to pursue FTAs with advanced economies in order to enhance competitiveness of Korea's industry and develop economic system. Also, by promoting the possibility of concluding FTAs with emerging economies, Korea hopes to increase market access opportunities with great potential. Lastly, by pursuing FTAs with countries that have a stronghold in each continent or are rich in resources, Korea plans to expand its export markets and foothold in energy and resources. If this three-pillar approach goes well as planned by 2012, which will mark the end of the current administration, Korea's trade figure under the FTA is expected to exceed the world's average of 50~55%. To elaborate on Korea's ongoing FTA negotiations. it can be stated that much progress was achieved at the 6th round of Korea-EU FTA negotiations, which was held in January. However, as some issues in core sectors such as tariff offers, rules of origin, and the standardization of automobile regulations have not been dealt with, Korea plans to exert much effort in these areas in the next round of negotiations, which are expected to be held in April. If successful, the conclusion of the Korea-EU FTA may be achieved at an early date. Besides, Korea is still engaged in talks with India, Canada and Mexico, as well as negotiations on investment agreement with ASEAN. As the ASEAN negotiations are being held in sequence, item by item, the agreement on trade in goods has already come into effect, while the agreement on trade in services was concluded in November  2007. Currently, investment is the only remaining area where talks are ongoing. While negotiations with India and Canada have nearly reached a conclusion, certain core issues have not yet been resolved. In the case of Mexico, the first round of negotiations were successfully held, yet the date for the second round of negotiations have not yet been settled. Due to Mexican businesses' concerns over the competitiveness of Korea's industries, there has been a delay in exchanging tariff offers on goods. The first round of negotiations with the GCC, which consists of six countries, is to be end around May of this year. Currently, MOFAT is planning to pursue working level negotiations with the GCC to set the framework for tariff offers. This would include factors such as deciding whether or not to exchange agreements beforehand as well as negotiation structures. However, due to the fact that the GCC is currently pursuing FTAs with various other countries, it has been rather difficult to set a concrete schedule with the GCC. Besides, a number of other countries such as Australia, New Zealand, and Peru have expressed their interest in starting FTAs with Korea. As such, the appropriate domestic measures will be taken after reviewing the economic feasibility of pursuing FTAs with these countries in accordance with the three aforementioned implementation strategies. Outcomes of Senior Officials’ Meeting of APEC and ASEM Ratification of the MOU on the Korea-ASEAN Center Academic Conference of Security, Unification and Foreign Polices Humanitarian Assistance A Keynote Speech in the 7th UN Human Rights Council A Moon in the White Porcelain from the 18th Century   The Ministry`s policy customers service conforms to the privacy guidelines. Illegal collection of personal information can be punished under related laws. 37 Sejong-no, Jongno-gu, Seoul 110-787, Republic of Korea TEL :(82-2)2100-8011 FAX : (82-2)2100-7913 fprteam.mofa.go.kr Copyrights 2007 Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. All Rights Reserved.