Yoon hold summit with Pacific island leaders

May 30, 2023, 09:12 am

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President Yoon Suk-yeol speaks during a summit with leaders of Pacific island nations at the Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul on May 29, 2023./ Source: Yonhap

AsiaToday reporter Lee Wook-jae

President Yoon Suk-yeol held a summit with leaders of Pacific island nations in Seoul on Monday and adopted a summit declaration for the future visions of both sides.

This is the first time that the South Korean president held a series of summits with leaders of Pacific island nations. The summit is meaningful as it is part of President Yoon’s initiative to implement the “Indo-Pacific Strategy” announced last year and aimed at securing allies to host the 2030 World Expo in its southeastern city of Busan, analysts say.

Yoon held a summit meeting with the leaders of the Cook Islands, Kiribati, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, French Polynesia and New Caledonia at the Cheong Wa Dae and adopted the summit declaration entitled “Partnership for Resilient Pacific Freedom, Peace and Prosperity.”

All countries from the Pacific Island Forum (PIF), an intergovernmental body aimed at enhancing cooperation among island countries in the region, attended the meeting.

“The Republic of Korea respects the independence and sovereignty of all countries and the rules-based international order,” he said, adding, “Accordingly, South Korea will make a responsible contribution to the international community by establishing a sustainable cooperative relationship based on mutual respect and trust with all countries, including the Pacific island nations.”

Yoon then evaluated that the direction of South Korea’s Indo-Pacific Strategy and the Pacific island nations’ “2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent” is consistent, and said, “I’d like to work with the leaders here to pursue a win-win partnership between the PIF and South Korea.”

In the summit declaration adopted by South Korea and the Pacific island nations, both sides welcomed the idea of upgrading dialogue to “top-level” and agreed to double South Korea’s official development assistance (ODA) for Pacific insland nations to US$39.9 million by 2027.

In the statement, both sides agreed to expand customized climate prediction service project for Pacific island nations, and support renewable energy projects while cooperating in marine ecosystem protection and health sectors.

They also agreed to work on protecting the ocean from environmental pollution caused by radioactive materials, and to continue cooperation in strengthening aviation and maritime infrastructure for tourism.

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