President Moon Jae-in and Canada’s Governor-General Julie Payette held a summit at Cheong Wa Dae for 25 minutes from 9:30 this morning. Governor-General Payette is visiting Korea to attend the opening ceremony of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics. They discussed how to continue to advance the strategic partnership between the two countries.

President Moon noted the fact that Canada had sent the third-largest number of troops to fight in the Korean War and had become a reliable friend in support of the peaceful resolution of the North Korean nuclear issue. Explaining how familiar Koreans are with ice hockey, the President said Canadian troops during the Korean War would play ice hockey on the frozen Imjin River to make themselves feel less homesick and cultivate a spirit of comradeship. He highlighted that Korea and Canada had built deep friendship forged in blood.

President Moon continued to say the unified women’s ice hockey team fielded by South and North Korea for the Olympics was being directed by Canadian coach Sarah Murray, adding she was recently enjoying explosive popularity.

After expressing appreciation to the President for the comment, the Governor-General said that she had seen Korea from a spaceship when she was an astronaut and that the Korean Peninsula in the blue ocean was not seen as divided into two but as one. 

The Governor-General presented a framed picture of the Korean Peninsula she had taken herself from space. Receiving it, President Moon said the two Koreas are one and gave her a set of silver spoons decorated with symbols of each Olympic discipline. 

The two leaders noted that Korea and Canada have deepened substantive cooperation in various areas, including trade and science and technology, since the establishment of a strategic partnership in September 2014; these accomplishments have been built on the institutional foundation of a free trade agreement and an agreement on science and technology innovation and cooperation. The two leaders concurred on the need to further develop bilateral cooperation based on that. 

Present at the meeting from the Canadian side were Minister of Sport and Persons with Disabilities Kirsty Duncan; Canadian Ambassador to Korea Eric Walsh; Deputy Secretary of Honours Emmanuelle Sajous; Director of Policy, Planning and Editorial Services Duncan Mousseau, and ‎Minister-Counsellor and Senior Trade Commissioner Steven Goodinson. On the Korean side were Minister of Foreign Affairs Kang Kyung-wha, Second Deputy Director of National Security Nam Gwan-pyo and Secretary to the President for Foreign Policy Shin Chae-hyun.