President Moon Jae-in attended a ceremony to receive letters of credence from six new ambassadors to Korea at the main building of Cheong Wa Dae from 3:00 to 4:40 this afternoon.

Attending the credentials presentation ceremony today were Ambassador from the Lebanese Republic Antoine Azzam; Ambassador from the Republic of Peru Daul Matute Mejia; Ambassador from the Republic of Colombia Juan Pablo Rodriquez Barragan; Ambassador from the United Kingdom Simon Smith; Ambassador from the Kingdom of Thailand Lapisatepun Singtong; and Ambassador from the Republic of Iraq Hayder Shiya Albarrak.

President Moon told Lebanese Ambassador Azzam that he highly regarded the humanitarian assistance and endeavors of Lebanon to help refugees from Syria and neighboring countries. President Moon explained that the Korean Government, too, would work to provide support for refugees.

Requesting Peru`s continued interest in and support for the efforts to address issues pertaining to the Korean Peninsula, President Moon said to Peruvian Ambassador Matute that he looked forward to active cooperation from Peru, which held the U.N. Security Council presidency for the 2018-2019 term. 

President Moon gave a high evaluation of economic and trade ties between Korea and Colombia that have been growing ever closer since the effectuation of the bilateral FTA in July 2016. The President told Colombian Ambassador Rodriquez Barragan that he hoped mutually beneficial economic cooperation would be further expanded and deepened in the years to come.

President Moon told British Ambassador Smith that the United Kingdom was Korea’s second-biggest trade and investment cooperation partner in Europe, expressing the hope that close trade relations between the two countries would be further expanded even after Brexit. 

President Moon said to Thai Ambassador Singtong that the Korean Government was making endeavors to upgrade Korea’s relations with ASEAN through the New Southern Policy and that Korea’s relationship with Thailand, a key player in ASEAN and a strategic partner, was very important to successfully implement the policy.

President Moon told Iraqi Ambassador Albarrak that Iraq with rich energy resources and Korea with advanced technology had complementary economic structures. Expecting that conditions for expanding bilateral cooperation would be improved especially after the defeat of ISIS, the President said that there was great potential for cooperation.