Page 227 - 2020 Defence White Paper

Korean War veterans to express gratitude for the dedication of Belgian veterans
and to reaffirm the traditional friendly relationship formed based on Belgium’s
participation in the Korean War.
At the ROK–UK Defense Ministers’ Meeting organized by the ROK Minister
of National Defense in June 2019, the Defense Ministers of the ROK and the UK
discussed ways to cooperate on realizing denuclearization and establishing a
permanent peace regime on the Korean Peninsula. Meanwhile, the ROK Vice
Minister of National Defense held talks with the UK Director-General of International
Security in May 2019 and discussed current issues on defense and defense industry
cooperation between the two countries and directions for future cooperation.
With France, the ROK is promoting a joint roadmap for strengthening cooperation
in the defense and security areas between the ROK and France as part of a follow-
up measure after President Moon’s visit to France in October 2018. In May 2019, a
telephone conference was held between the ROK Minister of National Defense and
the French Minister of the Armed Forces on the occasion of the French military’s
rescue of Korean civilians during counter-terrorism activities, and during the
telephone conference, the two ministers discussed in depth ways to detail the Chapter 6
cooperation issues agreed upon during the ROK–France Summit in October 2018. In
June 2019, the two ministers attended a ceremony in Paris to deliver French soldiers’
identification tags which were excavated during remains recovery activities at
Arrowhead Hill inside the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ).
The MND has been improving exchanges with Central European countries–
which are regarded as a new growth engine in Europe–and deriving measures for

cooperation in defense and the defense industry through high-level exchanges such
as the defense vice-ministerial talks between the ROK and the Visegrád Group
24)
since 2016. The 4th vice-ministerial talks was held in Seoul in September 2019
to exchange opinions on the regional security situation and discuss measures to
enhance national cooperation in
defense and the defense industry.
Ministerial talks with Hungary and
bilateral talks with the Czech Republic,
Vice-Ministerial talks with Slovakia
24)
were also held to shape cooperation A regional partnership
of Central Europe that
plans for each country. consists of the Czech
Republic, Poland, Hungary,
In November 2019, the ROK Minister and Slovakia. The name is
derived from the Hungarian
of National Defense held talks with the town of Visegrád, where
Signing of the MOU on ROK–Hungary Defense their first meeting took
Hungarian Minister of Defense who Cooperation (November 2019) place in 1991.

Chapter 6. Developing a Robust ROK–US Alliance that is Mutually Complementary and Promoting Defense Exchanges and Cooperation 225