Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/. On the occasion of the National Foundation of South Korea, the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Mongolia organized a reception ceremony on October 3 in Ulaanbaatar with participation of Mongolian Parliament members, foreign ambassadors in Ulaanbaatar, heads of nongovernmental organizations and South Korean nationals living in Mongolia.  

Charge d' Affairs of the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Ulaanbaatar Joung Kwan-shek said in his remarks at the reception that this holiday celebrates a formation of the first Korean state of Gojoseon in 2333 BC. He further continued “Mongolia and the Republic of Korea have a special connection through their history and culture, sharing the value of free democracy and market economy, based on which the two countries have been constantly developing political, economic and social relationship since establishment of diplomatic relations in 1990”.

“As South Korea is a major trade partner of Mongolia, the total trade turnover reached USD 335 million and total investment amounted to USD 470 million. While maintaining friendly ties with both the Republic of Korea and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Mongolia takes an active role in peace process of the Korean Peninsula as well as Northeast Asian region. Over and above the political cooperation, people-to-people exchange is the foundation of the bilateral relations that have been growing on a daily basis. There were 100 thousand mutual visits between the peoples of the two countries in 2014, with already two-fold increase of that number in 2018”. South Korean Charge d' Affairs expressed his willingness to exert all efforts to grow bilateral ties further. 

State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mongolia D.Davaarsuren, who was also present at the meeting, said “Both Prime Minister of Mongolia and South Korea paid reciprocal visits to each other last year, agreeing to upgrade the current level of relations to Comprehensive Partnership. South Korea’s Official Development Assistance to Mongolia has been giving impetus to the economic and social development of Mongolia. For instance, a soft loan of USD 500 million from South Korea directed at air pollution reduction of Ulaanbaatar city is expected to deepen the partnership of Mongolia and South Korea”.

State Secretary D.Davaasuren also highlighted that Mongolia supports the proposal introduced by South Korean President Moon Jae-in at the UN General Assembly podium to create ‘international peace zone’ to replace the Demilitarized Zone between the two Koreas and Mongolia is ready to cooperate in achieving peace on the Korean Peninsula.