Ministry of Foreign Affairs Proposes Efforts to Encourage North Korea's Participation in Northeast Asia Epidemic Prevention and Health Cooperation Body

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] On the 1st, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that it requested the participating countries of the 'Northeast Asia Quarantine and Health Cooperation Body,' led by Korea, to work together to encourage North Korea's participation.

At the 4th meeting of this cooperation body held via video conference the previous evening, Vice Minister Choi Jong-moon, in his welcoming remarks, urged, "Let us continue to make joint efforts to encourage North Korea's participation so that it can also contribute to peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia."

He also emphasized the increased importance of solidarity and cooperation among countries amid the prolonged COVID-19 situation, and urged the participating countries to work together to establish the cooperation body as a hub for health security cooperation within Northeast Asia by continuously promoting ▲the establishment of a sustainable cooperation framework ▲accumulation of exemplary cooperation cases ▲discovery and implementation of new projects.

This meeting was elevated from the previous director-general level to the bureau chief level, with officials at the bureau chief or deputy bureau chief level from the foreign affairs and health departments of six governments?Korea, the United States, China, Japan, Russia, and Mongolia?as well as representatives from embassies in Korea attending.

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