President Moon Jae-in and Danish Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen held a telephone conversation for 30 minutes from five o’clock this afternoon.

Prime Minister Rasmussen began by congratulating President Moon on his election, saying he has special fondness for Korea and had visited the country as many as 11 times since 2010. He went on to express the hope that Korea-Denmark relations would be further advanced under the leadership of President Moon whose election came at a critical juncture. 

President Moon reciprocated by thanking the Prime Minister for his congratulatory message and call. Noting his official visit to Korea as recently as last October, the President expressed appreciation to the Prime Minister for his extraordinary affection for Korea that resulted in 11 visits to the country. President Moon said Korea has many things to learn from Denmark, an advanced country in the environment, welfare, labor, dairy farming and education. He continued to say that their telephone conversation today would become a starter for more frequent dialogue between the two countries to discuss measures to promote bilateral relations and issues of mutual interest.

The Danish Prime Minister explained that Denmark, for its part, places high priority on the strategic partnership with Korea. He went on to say that there are many things for Denmark to learn from Korea as well in the field of high technology. He said he looked forward to cooperation especially in artificial intelligence and various other sectors.

President Moon highlighted how grateful Koreans feel toward their friend Denmark, which sent the hospital ship MS Jutlandia during the Korean War and cared for more than 10,000 military and civilian patients, saying many Koreans would never forget it. Notably, he mentioned the fact that Korea and Denmark are strategic partners that have established a value-based green growth alliance for the first time in the world. He said he was gratified that the two countries are closely working together to address global challenges, including climate change.

President Moon expressed the hope that action plans signed between the two countries on the occasion of the Prime Minister’s visit to Korea last year, as mentioned in his congratulatory message, would be faithfully carried out so that mutually-beneficial cooperation in diverse fields would take place and further expand.

Speaking of his Administration`s priority policy tasks to phase out nuclear power, increase the percentage of renewable energy and explore to find an eco-friendly, low-carbon future energy, President Moon said he hoped for close cooperation with Denmark, which is a leading nation in those areas. The President expressed his heartfelt appreciation to the Prime Minister for serving as the Chair of the Global Green Growth Institute headquartered in Korea, thus helping it to take firm root as an international organization. He went on to say that he expected the Prime Minister to take a continued interest in the development of the Institute.

President Moon noted that the forming of the Partnering for the Green Global Goals 2030 (P4G) is likely to make contributions to the effective implementation of the global agenda concerning a new climate regime and sustainable development goals after the Paris Agreement. Expressing full endorsement for Denmark`s endeavors to that end, the President said Korea would also join the global efforts.  

In reply, the Danish Prime Minister extended his appreciation to President Moon for expressing support for green growth and intentions to join the efforts for P4G. He went on to say that, even though the initiative is still in the planning stage, consultations with many heads of state were going on with preparations being made to hold an inaugural meeting in 2018. Commenting on his plan to hold the meeting biennially, the Prime Minister said he wanted to discuss the possibility of holding the first meeting in Korea. He requested that President Moon participate in the inauguration ceremony as well as make a visit to Denmark.

For his part, President Moon said that it would be ideal to have consultations through diplomatic channels since diplomatic schedules for the second half of the year are under review as of now. Concerning a visit to Denmark, the President said he hoped to make a visit at a mutually convenient time and discuss how to enhance bilateral relations. 

Mentioning that Scandinavian nations such as Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland have developed the Nordic model under which they achieved successful economic growth and offered a wide range of welfare benefits, President Moon said he wanted to apply it to Korea. The President expressed his gratitude to Denmark for actively supporting the South Korean Government’s position in relation to the North Korean nuclear development issue. The President said he intends to seek the denuclearization of the North in a decisive and fundamental manner through phased and inclusive approaches, asking for strong support.

Prime Minister Rasmussen explained that he was also deeply worried about the situation in North Korea and assured President Moon of Denmark’s strong support. Speaking of his long conversations with Chinese leaders four weeks ago, the Prime Minister said that he and the Chinese had a common understanding that they needed to pressure and bring the North to the negotiating table and that the European Union would also follow suit.

In response, President Moon asked the Prime Minister to share with him how Chinese President Xi Jinping and the Chinese leadership responded. Prime Minister Rasmussen answered that though President Xi mentioned the denuclearization of the entire Korean Peninsula in a similar way to how he usually did in his speeches, he felt that President Xi was truly worried about the issue. The Prime Minister added that in a meeting with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, he also felt that China was making a serious endeavor to influence North Korea. 

Finally, Prime Minister Rasmussen said he hoped to visit Korea for the 12th time, soon. The Prime Minister said he wanted to ask a favor and requested President Moon to suggest that President Xi participate in the P4G when he meets the Chinese leader.

President Moon replied that he would certainly deliver the message to President Xi. The President, then, said he was looking forward to meeting the Prime Minister in person at the earliest date possible.