1. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and his spouse visited the Republic of Korea on August 22-27 to attend the opening ceremony of the 2013 World Rowing Championships (August 24, Chungju).

2. During his visit to the ROK, Secretary-General Ban paid a courtesy call on President Park Geun-hye and met with the Prime Minister. In the meetings, he discussed the ROK-UN relations, issues surrounding the Korean Peninsula and global issues, including world peace, human rights and sustainable growth.

o On August 23, Secretary-General Ban met with the National Assembly Speaker and attended a dinner hosted by the Foreign Minister and his spouse and an event hosted by the UN Academic Impact. He also attended an event for CEOs organized by the UN Global Compact on August 26.

3. In addition, Secretary-General Ban attended the inauguration ceremony of the “Post-2015 Korea Forum” which was held at the Foreign Ministry on August 26. As the 2015 target date for the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), set by the UN to eradicate global poverty, is approaching, the Forum is expected to play an important role in gathering opinions of people from different fields on ways to set post-2015 development goals and in establishing the ROK’s position.

4. Secretary-General held a press conference for local and foreign journalists at the Foreign Ministry on the morning of August 26.