President Moon Jae-in met with President Luis Alberto Moreno of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) at Cheong Wa Dae for 30 minutes from 10:00 this morning. The IDB President is visiting Korea in his capacity as an IOC member to attend the IOC Session and the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.

President Moon began by saying he was told that President Moreno’s great contributions to the IDB’s growth and Latin America’s economic development had earned him the nickname of “the economic president of Latin America.” President Moon went on to say this region was growing fast with unlimited potential. He continued that Korea had built experiences in economic growth a little earlier than the region and had strengths in such areas as infrastructure, energy and IT, making the country a viable partner for Latin America’s economic progress. President Moon asked President Moreno to play an active role in making it possible for Korea and the IDB to work together to achieve an epochal economic growth in Latin America.

President Moon also said that the IOC had paved the way for North Korea to participate in the PyeongChang Olympics and allowed the two Koreas to form a single team, which would help make the Games successful in grabbing attention. The President also added that these developments would serve as a great opportunity to improve inter-Korean relations and resolve the North Korean nuclear issue in a peaceful manner.  

Noting that Korea had an exemplary education system and many talented young people, President Moreno said that if they accumulated more experiences to enhance their capabilities in Latin America, they could play an active part in the international arena, including in the United States where many Hispanic people are living. 

President Moon asked for interest and support from IDB President Moreno to ensure that the PyeongChang Olympics would go down in Olympic history as the greatest event of all.

Attendees at the meeting from the IDB side included Julio Cesar Angel-Mejia, Deputy Chief Representative of IDB’s Asian Office, and Kim Dong-il, Senior Advisor at IDB’s External Relations Department. On the Korean side were Kim Dong-yeon, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Strategy and Finance; Hong Jang-pyo, Senior Secretary to the President for Economic Affairs; Cha Young-hwan, Secretary for Economic Policy at Cheong Wa Dae; and Kim Eui-kyeom, the Cheong Wa Dae spokesman.