FM Yun calls for 'political will' to enhance health security

Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se stressed the need Wednesday for collecting the "political will" worldwide to counter infectious disease threats.

Addressing a Seoul meeting of the Global Health Security Agenda, he said South Korea's fight against MERS, a respiratory disease, earlier this year demonstrated the importance of international partnerships.

"This year, we overcame the MERS cases swiftly and successfully through cooperation with the World Health Organization, the United States, and other partner nations," he said.

On the other hand, he pointed out, the Ebola pandemic in west Africa last year sounded an alarm bell over the vulnerability of the handling of the cross-border spread of contagious illness.

He cited the wide gap in dealing with such a health crisis by region and nation despite a U.N.-led anti-poverty campaign.

Based on lessons from the MERS and Ebola outbreaks, the minister said, the 44 member states of the GHSA should show their united political will.

It's also important to help developing countries improve the system to handle such deadly viruses, he added.

On Tuesday, President Park Geun-hye announced Seoul's plans to provide 13 countries with $100 million in aid over the next five years in the "Save Life for All" program designed to help them combat infectious diseases.

The 13 countries are Ghana, Ethiopia, Jordan, Cambodia, Laos, Uzbekistan, Peru, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Liberia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast and Mali.

"Health security and development cooperation are key elements of South Korea's 'humanitarian diplomacy,'" Yun said. "Our government will make contributions for the success of this valuable GHSA."

The global health initiative was launched last year to help create a world safe and secure from infectious diseases.   

Wrapping up the three-day high-level session, meanwhile, GHSA member states issued the Seoul Declaration echoing the minister's view.

"Global health security should be understood as a shared, multisectoral responsibility that no single country, organization or sector can achieve alone in every area of our lives," it read.

GHSA will serve as a "collaborative platform" to promote regional and international cooperation for support and commitment for each other, it added.

Next year's meeting will be held in the Netherlands. (Yonhap)