hankyoreh

South Korean President Moon Jae-in meets with UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay at Hotel Plaza Athenee in Paris on Oct. 16.

During his state visit to France on Oct. 16, South Korean President Moon Jae-in met with UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay, who told him that the organization would enthusiastically cooperate in areas including the designation of the area around the demilitarized zone (DMZ) as an international ecological park, the preservation and management of tangible and intangible cultural assets in South and North Korea, and education in North Korea.

During Moon’s meeting with Azoulay at the Hotel Plaza Athénée in downtown Paris on Tuesday, the two discussed ways to strengthen cooperation in the areas of education, culture and science to promote peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula. “I appreciate your support for our government’s efforts for the establishment of peace on the Korean Peninsula,” Moon said. This was the two figures’ first meeting since Azoulay became director-general in Nov. 2017.

“President Moon and Director-General Azoulay were united in the view that the South Korean government and UNESCO need to cooperate closely in efforts to establish peace on the Korean Peninsula,” the Blue House reported. The two leaders were also in agreement that inter-Korean exchange and cooperation in areas including education, culture and sports will contribute to narrowing the gap resulting from the two sides’ long division and lay the foundation for lasting peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula.

“I hope that South Korea and UNESCO will increase their cooperation on properly remembering history and preserving the cultural heritage of humanity. I hope more Koreans will get interested in taking part in UNESCO,” Moon said.

“UNESCO has been a valuable partner that has played a major role not only in South Korea’s development but also in its achievement of the values of democracy, justice and human rights. UNESCO helped South Korea rebuild its educational system after the Korean War by setting up a textbook printing facility there in 1954.”

By Seong Yeon-cheol, staff reporter

Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]