The foreign ministers from South Korea and Slovenia held talks on Friday to discuss ways to expand economic cooperation and people-to-people exchanges, Seoul’s foreign ministry said.
South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se met with his Slovenian counterpart Karl Erjavec earlier in the day to exchange views on geopolitical situations and economic cooperation, according to the foreign ministry.
A joint statement said that the two top diplomats agreed that there is still “untapped potential” for cooperation on the economic level.
Erjavec arrived in Seoul on Wednesday for a three-day visit. It was the first visit in ten years by a foreign minister of Slovenia, it added.
In a related move, delegates from Seoul and Ljubljana held the first joint economic commission earlier in the day on the occasion of Erjavec’s visit to Seoul.
The two sides discussed how to expand cooperation in such areas as automobiles, tourism and transportation, according to the foreign ministry. They also agreed to make efforts to quickly conclude arrangements to recognize each other’s driver’s licenses as well as their social security agreement.
Meanwhile, Yun and Erjavec voiced “deep” concerns about North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs, vowing to work together in improving the human rights situation in the North.
The two top diplomats “expressed their deep concern about North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs and reaffirmed their will to work together to promote improvements in human rights and the humanitarian situation in North Korea,” the statement said.
Slovenia is South Korea’s largest trading partner among the Balkans with the value of their two-way trade hitting US$1.8 billion as of 2014.
South Korea and Slovenia established diplomatic ties in 1992. (Yonhap)
