South Korea FM to visit Costa Rica for FEALAC forum

Seoul, August 17, 2015.- Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se will visit Costa Rica this week for a forum between East Asian and Latin American states, the Foreign Ministry said Monday.

Yun will attend the 7th Foreign Ministers' Meeting of the Forum for East Asia-Latin America Cooperation (FEALAC) in San Jose on Friday, where he plans to lay out South Korea's vision for strengthening ties between the two regions, the ministry said in a press release.

South Korea will serve two years as the next East Asia coordinator for FEALAC until 2017.

In 2017, it is scheduled to host all the foreign ministers of the forum's 36 member states for their eighth meeting. Other members include Japan, China and Australia from East Asia, and Brazil, Argentina and Chile from Latin America.

"Our participation in this year's FEALAC Foreign Minister's Meeting is expected to help boost the momentum for furthering practical cooperation between South Korea and Latin America, which was bolstered by President Park Geun-hye's Latin America tour in April," the ministry said.

This year's meeting is expected to focus on ways to raise the forum's political profile and increase practical cooperation projects among its member states. At the end of the meeting, the ministers also plan to adopt a joint statement on FEALAC's future vision.

On the sidelines of the meeting, Yun plans to hold talks with his Costa Rican counterpart, Manuel Gonzales, and other foreign ministers from the participating nations.

Ahead of his trip to Costa Rica, Yun will make a three-day visit to Panama starting Tuesday for talks with his Panamanian counterpart, Isabel Saint Malo, on issues of mutual interest. It will be the first visit by a South Korean foreign minister to the Latin American country in 20 years.

The forum was launched in 1999 under the initiative of then Singaporean Prime Minister Gho Chok Tong to enhance relations between the two regions.