Minister Kang Kyung-wha: "Preventing the Spread of COVID-19 'Infodemic'... Ensuring Free Information Provision and Access"

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] On the 26th (local time), Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha attended a video conference related to the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) hosted by the Alliance for Multilateralism and discussed "strengthening global health governance and responding to the infodemic."

The Alliance for Multilateralism is an informal consultative body launched in April 2019 under the leadership of France and Germany with the aim of strengthening multilateralism.

The meeting, hosted by the foreign ministries of France and Germany, was attended by ministerial-level officials from more than 30 countries including South Korea, France, Germany, Australia, Finland, Chile, South Africa, Spain, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Singapore, Senegal, and Morocco, as well as the Director-Generals of the World Health Organization (WHO), UNESCO, and Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

Minister Kang stated, "The need for joint efforts by the international community and the Alliance for Multilateralism to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic has increased," adding, "The Korean government will actively contribute to strengthening global health governance through improving the implementation of the International Health Regulations (IHR)."

She further introduced that "to lead cooperation with the international community on COVID-19 response, a Health Security Friends Group has been launched within the UN, WHO, and UNESCO," expressing concern over the spread of the COVID-19-related infodemic and urging countries to take efforts to guarantee accurate and free information provision and access.

At this meeting, participating countries agreed that multilateralism enables more effective responses to international challenges caused by the spread of COVID-19, sharing their efforts and experiences related to strengthening health governance and addressing the infodemic.

An official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs explained, "Minister Kang's participation in this Alliance for Multilateralism meeting is evaluated as a good opportunity to express South Korea's commitment to strengthening global health governance as a model country in COVID-19 response to the international community."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.