Foreign minister to attend Davos forum next week

South Korea’s foreign minister will leave for Switzerland next week to attend this year’s annual meeting of the World Economic Forum to discuss global economic and geopolitical issues, officials said Thursday.

Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se is likely to depart Seoul around Wednesday to attend the forum to be held in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, officials from the foreign ministry said. The forum is scheduled to kick off on Wednesday for a four-day run.

This year’s forum is expected to draw about 2,500 political leaders, government officials and business leaders from more than 140 countries who would discuss challenges facing the world economy and other global issues, according to the forum’s organizers.

Yun is expected to participate in a session titled “the geopolitical outlook” in 2015 next Friday, they said. The speakers for the session also include European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.

Seoul’s foreign ministry is seeking to arrange a meeting between Yun and his French counterpart Laurent Fabius on the sidelines of the forum, officials said.

The top diplomats may exchange views about global efforts to fight terrorism by Muslim extremists following a recent terrorist attack on satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in France, they noted.

After returning to Seoul, Yun will fly to Germany earlier next month to attend a security conference to be held in Munich from Feb. 6-8.

This year’s Munich Security Conference is expected to mainly deal with the collapse of the international order, security challenge and the fight against terrorism, according to its organizers.

It would mark the first time that a Seoul foreign minister participates in the forum, according to the ministry. (Yonhap)