South Korea and the Czech Republic plan to hold a summit later this month in Seoul as the two countries seek to deepen political, economic and cultural exchanges, marking the 25th anniversary of their diplomatic ties, Cheong Wa Dae said Friday.
Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka is scheduled to arrive here on Feb. 24 and have talks with President Park Geun-hye two days later, her office said. His four-day visit will be the first prime ministerial trip from the European country since 2001, and includes a delegation of ranking officials and some 60 business executives.
They are expected to swap views on the situation in Northeast Asia, Europe and around the globe and discuss ways to expand cooperation in economics, trade, energy, infrastructure, science and technology, culture, education and other areas.
The two countries forged their diplomatic relations in 1990. Their trade volume topped $2.2 billion in 2013, with South Korean investment in the Czech Republic totaling nearly $1.5 billion.
Park, for her part, will also introduce her vision for inter-Korean relations and reunification to request the premier’s support.
Prague established diplomatic ties with Pyongyang in 1948 with embassies in each country. Lubomir Zaoralek, the Czech foreign minister who has traveled to both Koreas in 2005 as chief of the lower house, said the country is looking into how to contribute to the peninsular issues such as by returning to the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission, during a phone conversation with Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se last March.
Sobotka’s visit comes as Seoul strives to promote what it calls middle-power diplomacy aimed at raising its voice on regional and global conundrums by bridging the advanced and developing worlds.
Last year, Yun launched consultations with the Visegrad Group ― an alliance of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia ― and sealed an agreement with the International Visegrad Fund to carry out development projects in Eastern European countries.
The Czech Republic is set to take over the chairmanship of the coalition, also known as the V4, in July from Slovakia.
“The upcoming summit will provide a good opportunity to consolidate the Visegrad Group’s support for a peaceful unification of the Korean Peninsula and expedite practical multilateral collaboration in such areas as energy, development and culture within the cooperation framework between South Korea and the V4,” the presidential office said in a statement.
By Shin Hyon-hee (
heeshin@heraldcorp.com)
