Cho Hyun, Minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, held talks on the 20th in Seoul with Giorgos Gerapetritis, the Greek foreign minister, and discussed expanding practical cooperation including shipbuilding and shipping as well as regional affairs.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Minister noted that the two countries have maintained complementary cooperation in shipbuilding and shipping, and proposed broadening the scope of cooperation into various fields going forward.
The Minister, Gerapetritis, highly praised Korea's advanced shipbuilding technology and said he expects to strengthen cooperation in maritime innovation fields such as defense industry, unmanned vessels, and eco-friendly ships.
The two ministers confirmed that Korea and Greece are countries that share core values such as democracy and the rule of law, and agreed to continue cooperation to uphold international law and freedom of navigation based on their commonality as maritime powers.
They also agreed to focus on ways to expand people-to-people exchanges, and to exchange views on major international affairs, including the Middle East and Ukraine, while maintaining close communication.
Meanwhile, the Minister met the same day with Susan Shirk, Tai Ming Cheung, and Stephan Haggard, professors from the Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation (IGCC), who were in Korea to attend the 34th Northeast Asia Cooperation Dialogue (NEACD), and exchanged views on the security environment in Northeast Asia and the situation on the Korean Peninsula.