Minister Kang Kyung-wha Holds First Virtual Meeting with All Overseas Mission Chiefs Since COVID-19 Outbreak

Minister Kang Kyung-wha emphasizes "Creative and proactive diplomacy" amid expected prolonged COVID-19
Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun sends video message

Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha is delivering opening remarks at a press conference held on the 2nd at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs building in Jongno-gu, Seoul. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] On the 9th, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs held a two-hour video conference from 9 p.m. chaired by Minister Kang Kyung-wha with all heads of overseas diplomatic missions to discuss the regional novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) situation, the response status of overseas missions, and COVID-19 response and policy directions.

This meeting was the first video conference of all overseas mission heads held amid the COVID-19 outbreak. A total of 186 heads of overseas missions, including the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the First Vice Minister, the Second Vice Minister, bureau chiefs, and ambassadors and consuls general, participated. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has continuously held a total of 21 regional and thematic video conferences with mission heads, starting with the China region missions in January, in response to the COVID-19 spread as follows.

Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun also sent a video message to encourage the heads of overseas missions. Prime Minister Chung praised the efforts of each mission in protecting the lives of Korean nationals and supporting corporate activities, including the exceptional entry of returning overseas Koreans and businesspeople, and expressed expectations for the active role of overseas mission heads in strengthening Korea’s contribution to the international community’s COVID-19 response. He also urged each overseas mission to work with domestic quarantine authorities to block or reduce the increasing trend of overseas imported cases.

In his opening remarks, Minister Kang emphasized, "As health issues such as the COVID-19 crisis cause comprehensive and complex changes across international politics, economy, and social order, becoming a global challenge, the role and responsibility of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have become immense," adding, "Since the prolonged COVID-19 situation is expected, it is important to actively participate in overcoming the national crisis and to create creative and proactive diplomacy that turns the crisis into an opportunity."

He then presented key tasks including △ protection of overseas nationals △ contribution to economic recovery △ leading international cooperation related to health security, and requested, "To support our Trade Negotiation Headquarters Chief Yoo Myung-hee, who is a candidate for the Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), I ask overseas mission heads to actively conduct support and negotiation activities locally."

Relevant bureaus and offices at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs headquarters attending the meeting explained △ the domestic COVID-19 situation and major response status △ protection of overseas nationals △ foreign entry and exit policies △ support for exceptional entry of businesspeople and other economic support △ strengthening international cooperation related to COVID-19. Considering the ongoing global spread of COVID-19, they announced plans to maintain the current measures for the time being and to classify countries into quarantine-strengthening target countries, trend-monitoring countries, and countries with possible expanded exchanges through regular inter-agency consultations, to respond effectively according to each country's situation.

The heads of overseas missions shared the COVID-19 status and response policies of host countries, experiences in protecting and supporting the return of overseas nationals through representative remarks in each field, and discussed ways to minimize economic shocks such as resolving difficulties faced by Korean companies due to the COVID-19 spread.

During the support process for the return of overseas nationals, mission heads shared specific experiences including △ cooperation cases among Korean overseas missions △ cooperation cases with other countries’ overseas missions in host countries △ consultation processes with host countries. They also agreed to strengthen the cooperation system among Korean overseas missions for protecting and supporting the return of overseas nationals going forward. Various support measures at the overseas mission level were also discussed to address difficulties faced by Korean companies locally, such as increased unpaid receivables due to economic downturn in host countries and operational difficulties caused by confirmed COVID-19 cases within companies.

Additionally, the mission heads noted that Korea’s exemplary COVID-19 response has led to increased international cooperation demand in health security and health and medical development cooperation fields, and proposed various measures to turn this diplomatic environment into an opportunity to further expand Korea’s diplomatic horizon. Proposed measures included △ revitalizing high-level cooperation channels suspended due to COVID-19 △ expanding development cooperation projects such as strengthening COVID-19 diagnostic capacity and providing quarantine supplies △ strengthening MIKTA cooperation, for which Korea currently holds the chairmanship △ enhancing diplomatic capabilities in multilateral forums by utilizing friendly groups related to health cooperation under the UN, World Health Organization (WHO), and UNESCO.

An official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs explained, "This video conference of all overseas mission heads served as an opportunity to broadly share COVID-19 response status and experiences from all regions worldwide, thereby strengthening the organic COVID-19 response system between headquarters and overseas missions," adding, "We will closely monitor the COVID-19 spread situation by region and country and continue communication with overseas missions to enable the Ministry headquarters and overseas missions to respond more effectively to the COVID-19 situation together."

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