(Unofficial Translation)


Honorable Chair, Excellencies,

I would like to thank His Excellency Prime Minister Phuc for his leadership in convening this special virtual summit. 

I believe it is truly meaningful that we are having this meeting in such an exceptional format, at a time when extraordinary cooperation is needed.

The world is facing an unprecedented health and socioeconomic crisis due to the outbreak of COVID-19.

Our very lives and future are coming under threat in every aspect. 
This is a crisis that cannot be overcome by the efforts of individual countries. 

Home to 30% of the world’s population and economy, the ASEAN+3 is a community of common destiny that is closely interlinked through solidarity and exchanges. 

I hope we will prevail over the COVID-19 crisis together, just as we have done so in times of crisis and opportunities in the past. 

Since the early days of the COVID-19 outbreak, the 10 member states of ASEAN have exerted concerted efforts to facilitate regional cooperation. 

I hope that today’s meeting will serve to produce practical and concrete measures for coordination at the ASEAN+3 level as well. 

The ASEAN+3 countries have accumulated useful experience in terms of effectively responding to our common crises. 

The Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralization to address liquidity crises and the ‘Emergency Rice Reserve’ system to prepare for unexpected food crises are excellent examples. 

I am confident that we will also successfully overcome the COVID-19 crisis by standing together. 

Fellow leaders,

Having borne the brunt of COVID-19 earlier than other countries, the Republic of Korea has confronted numerous challenges head-on.

While we still need to guard against complacency, we are gradually entering a phase of stabilization, much to our relief. 

Intensive testing and tracing, rigorous epidemiological investigation, along with voluntary participation of the people based on transparent information-sharing have proven to be indispensable in our fight against the pandemic. 

I hope to share Korea’s infectious disease prevention and control experience and lessons learned with other member countries and pool our wisdom toward overcoming this complex crisis together.

Thank you.