President Moon Jae-in and President of Estonia Kersti Kaljulaid held a summit at Cheong Wa Dae today. The Estonian President is visiting Korea to attend the PyeongChang Winter Olympics. With today’s summit, President Moon’s summit diplomacy on the sidelines of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics went into high gear.

During the 40-minute summit from 3:00 o’clock this afternoon, the two Presidents discussed how to work together in the digital sector, including e-government, cybersecurity and the incubation of startups, as well as in North Korea policy.

President Moon welcomed her by saying President Kaljulaid’s visit to Korea was very meaningful in that it was the first by an Estonian head of state since the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries. He went on to express the hope that her visit would become a milestone in elevating bilateral relations to new heights. 

President Moon gave a high evaluation of the fact that Estonia became the first country in the world to introduce the e-residency and internet voting systems. Noting that Korea also had strength in information technology, President Moon proposed that the two countries work together in the sector. 

After expressing her appreciation for President Moon`s welcome, President Kaljulaid said Estonia could be of big help if Korean businesses used her country as a foothold for their advance into IT markets in Europe. The visiting President added that her country was already scheduled to sign an MOU with Gyeonggi-do Province. 

Commenting on her country`s endeavors to become a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council 26 years after regaining its sovereignty, President Kaljulaid requested Korea`s support. 

President Moon expressed his gratitude to the Estonian Government for consistently backing the Korean Government’s North Korea policy, especially on the North Korean nuclear issue. Then, the President asked for continued interest and support so that the momentum for improving inter-Korean relations created on the occasion of the PyeongChang Olympics would be further developed. 

Attendees present at the summit from the Estonian side were Estonian Ambassador to Korea Jaak Lensment and Director of the Office of the President Tiit Riisalo. On the Korean side were Minister of Foreign Affairs Kang Kyung-wha, Minister of Defense Acquisition Program Administration Jeon Jei- guk, Second Deputy Director of National Security Nam Gwan-pyo, and Secretary to the President for Foreign Policy Shin Chae-hyun.