Published : Dec. 4, 2015 - 17:42
Relations between South Korea and a group of four central European nations opened a new chapter on Thursday as they agreed to step up their cooperation in infrastructure development, security, climate change and other areas during their first-ever summit in the Czech Republic.
President Park Geun-hye (second from left) and the leaders of the four-nation "Visegrad Group" hold a joint press conference in Prague, the Czech Republic on Thursday. (Yonhap)
At the summit with the “Visegrad Group” -- also called Visegrad Four, or V4 -- consisting of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, President Park Geun-hye agreed to hold a meeting of foreign ministers of the five nations on a regular basis to strengthen “political dialogue.”
The first group summit in Prague was attended by Park, Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka, Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydlo, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico.
In a joint summit declaration, the leaders highlighted the need to enhance political dialogue and expand exchanges among high-level officials of the five nations, as there have been an increasing number of political and security issues that call for collective responses.
Capitalizing on the summit, Park also called on the V4 nations to help South Korean firms join massive new infrastructure projects in central Europe, which are estimated to be worth around 50 trillion won ($43 billion).
The five leaders agreed to consider establishing high-level talks between Korea and the Visegrad Group regarding bilateral cooperation in the construction of infrastructure in the four nations.
The Visegrad Group has been pushing for various infrastructure projects including the construction of subways, “intelligence traffic systems” and additional nuclear power plants.
Park also used the summit to secure the four nations’ support for Seoul’s three major external policy initiatives: the Northeast Asia Peace and Cooperation Initiative, Eurasia Initiative and the Korean Peninsula Trust Building Process.
The NAPCI is Seoul’s initiative to address what it calls “Asia Paradox,” which refers to the situation in which geopolitical conflicts intensify despite deepening economic cooperation and interdependence in the region.
The Eurasia Initiative is aimed at bolstering economic cooperation with Eurasian states by establishing a pan-Eurasia system of transport and energy networks that link Korea to those states.
Under the Korean Peninsula Trust Building Process, Seoul has been pursuing the denuclearization of the peninsula and inter-Korean reconciliation and cooperation.
North Korea was also on the agenda of the summit.
Park and V4 leaders criticized Pyongyang for its continued development of nuclear weapons and missiles and called on the communist regime to return to the multilateral dialogue for its denuclearization. They also called for improvement in the North’s woeful human rights conditions.
The leaders also agreed to share with Seoul the V4 nations’ experience regarding their successful transition to a market economy from a socialist system.
“The V4 nations’ transition to the market economy offers meaningful lessons and implications for Korea’s process of peaceful reunification and post-unification integration of the peninsula,” Park said during a joint press conference.
Her trip to the Czech Republic was as part of her seven-day trip to Europe, which also took her to France where she attended a U.N. climate change forum. She is to arrive in Seoul on Saturday.
By Song Sang-ho (
sshluck@heraldcorp.com)