Korea Attends OSCE Ministerial Council Meeting, Urges Support for Peace Efforts on the Korean Peninsula

Member States Emphasize Peaceful Resolution of Conflicts Including Ukraine and Nagorno-Karabakh

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] Ham Sang-wook, Director-General for Multilateral Diplomacy Coordination at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, attended the 27th Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Ministerial Council held via video conference on the 3rd and 4th.

The OSCE is the largest regional multilateral security organization composed of 57 member countries including North America, Europe, and Central Asia, applying the concept of comprehensive security covering political-military, economic-environmental, and human dimensions. Korea has participated as a Partner for Cooperation since 1994.

On the 4th, Director-General Ham explained Korea’s exemplary quarantine policies and experiences in response to COVID-19 during the plenary session, introduced the concept of a quarantine and health cooperation system in the Northeast Asia region, and requested the interest and support of OSCE member states for efforts to establish a permanent peace regime on the Korean Peninsula.

At this Ministerial Council, OSCE member states emphasized the peaceful resolution of conflicts such as in Ukraine and Nagorno-Karabakh, strengthening arms control and confidence-building measures, promotion of human rights, democratic elections, freedom of the press, and the necessity of universal supply of COVID-19 vaccines.

Meanwhile, Korea has participated as an OSCE Partner for Cooperation since 1994 and actively promotes cooperation with the OSCE, a representative multilateral security cooperation organization, by holding annual Korea-OSCE meetings on cybersecurity, counterterrorism, and other issues.