President Moon Jae-in met with Dr. Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum (WEF) at Cheong Wa Dae today. He is the author of the million-seller The Fourth Industrial Revolution. They exchanged ideas on the Fourth Industrial Revolution and improvement in inter-Korean relations. They also discussed how to work together in the foreseeable future.

Calling Dr. Schwab a specialist on the issue of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, President Moon explained that his Administration placed a people-centered Fourth Industrial Revolution as one of its important goals for national innovative growth, adding that what it does is still not nearly enough. The President said he looked forward to many more inputs from the WEF Chairman on how to navigate through the Fourth Industrial Revolution. 

Chairman Schwab said that his book on the Fourth Industrial Revolution has sold about one million copies, of which 300,000 were sold in Korea. The Chairman added this attested to significant interest Korea had in the new trend. 

Saying that the Korea issue would be at the center of next year`s WEF, he noted that the WEF would not spare any support in terms of the economy because the economic aspect of the North Korea issue, which was about achieving economic stabilization in the country, was expected to become very important in the end. 

Chairman Schwab congratulated President Moon and extended his full support for the ongoing inter-Korean talks. Commenting on a special relationship between Switzerland and North Korea, the Chairman said his country had already declared that it would play a mediating role. He went on to say that there was room for cooperation between the World Economic Forum and Switzerland on the issue and that if all the circumstances and conditions were met, he would make necessary preparations in the area together. 

Attendees from the WEF at the meeting today included Chief of Staff for the Office of the Executive Chairman Katrin Eggenberger, Chairperson and Co-Founder of the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship Hilde Schwab, Head of International Organizations, Geopolitical and Regional Agenda Lee Joo-ok, and Business Engagement Lead for the Asia Pacific region Kim Suyoun.