President Moon Jae-in and President Milos Zeman of the Czech Republic held a summit on the sidelines of the 72nd Session of the United Nations General Assembly. President Zeman is the first popularly-elected president of the Czech Republic. They made a promise that Korea and the Czech Republic, a winter sports powerhouse, would work closely together for the success of the PyeongChang Olympic Winter Games.

President Moon gave high marks to the Czech Republic, a successful transition economy and an EU member state, for providing consistent support to the Korean Government’s North Korea policy and playing a constructive role. He asked for continued cooperation and assistance from the Czech Republic. President Zeman responded by saying that his country would continue to play an active role in the international arena, including the European Union.

Proposing exchanges of high-ranking officials, President Moon explained about the similarity between the two nations in the history of democracy; Czechoslovakia experienced democracy during the period of the Prague Spring in 1968 while Korea was able to make strides in democracy during the Seoul Spring, a period of democratization from October 1979 to May 1980. The President then emphasized that given such a resemblance, high-level exchanges would further enhance mutually beneficial cooperation between the two countries. 

President Zeman said he was pleased that the candlelight revolution in Korea proceeded peacefully, expressing his gratitude to President Moon’s invitation to Korea. President Zeman also said he always addressed the Republic of Korea as “Korea” rather than “South Korea” and that he was deeply grateful to many Korean investors, including Hyundai Motor Company, showing his affinity to Korea.