Yoon Holds Consecutive Summits with 5 Pacific Island Nations... 10 Bilateral Meetings Over Two Days

Cook Islands, Marshall Islands, Solomon Islands, Niue, and Palau
Yoon "Building a Trust-Based Sustainable Cooperative Relationship"

President Yoon Suk-yeol held summit meetings with five countries?Cook Islands, Marshall Islands, Solomon Islands, Niue, and Palau?on the occasion of hosting the Korea-Pacific Island Countries Summit on the 29th.

On the morning of the same day, President Yoon held a series of summit talks with Mark Brown, Prime Minister of the Cook Islands; David Kabua, President of the Marshall Islands; Manasseh Sogavare, Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands; Dalton Tagelagi, Prime Minister of Niue; and Surangel Whipps, President of Palau, according to a written briefing by spokesperson Lee Do-woon. With this, President Yoon conducted individual bilateral meetings with all 10 leaders attending the Korea-Pacific Island Countries Summit.

President Yoon stated, "The Republic of Korea respects individual freedom and human rights and implements policies based on the rule of law," adding, "In the international community, we respect the independence and sovereignty of all countries and uphold a rules-based international order."

He also emphasized deepening cooperative relations with Pacific Island countries based on Korea’s governance principle of contributing to the international community.

President Yoon Suk-yeol is holding a summit meeting with Surangel Whipps Jr., President of Palau, on the morning of the 29th.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

President Yoon said, "Our Republic of Korea has a mission to make responsible contributions that Korea must undertake in the international community. We will build just and trust-based sustainable cooperative relationships with Pacific Island countries," and urged, "Let Korea, a Pacific nation, and the Pacific Island countries protect the Pacific together and seek and share sustainable use plans for the Pacific."

He also explained the significance of upgrading communication between Korea and the Pacific Island countries to the summit level, stating, "We intend to strengthen tailored support that meets the needs of Pacific Island countries."

With the Cook Islands, co-host of the Korea-Pacific Island Countries Summit, discussions were held not only on friendly cooperation but also on deep-sea resource development cooperation involving manganese, iron, nickel, copper, cobalt, and other resources.

With the Marshall Islands, they discussed participation in ocean thermal energy conversion projects utilizing deep-sea temperature differences and support for hosting the Busan Expo.

With the Solomon Islands, various development cooperations were explored, including support for vehicles to transport athletes for the 2023 Pacific Games to be held in November, the Tina River Hydropower Project, reforestation projects on New Georgia Island, invitation training for public officials and students on the Saemaul Undong movement, and support for university capacity building (Department of Oceanography at the National University).

With Niue, official diplomatic relations were established from 8 a.m. on the same day, and based on this, they promised to strengthen future development cooperation and collaboration in the field of climate change. With Palau, discussions covered the resumption of direct flights and revitalization of exchanges, road and port construction, and expanded cooperation in renewable energy and IT.