South Korea's '2021 Diplomatic White Paper' describes Japan as closest neighbour

South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs newly added the 'diplomatic development for pandemic response' chapter and published the eight-page 2021 diplomatic white paper on its website on December 6.

Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong said in a diplomatic white paper, "Although global society focus on responding to a health crisis caused by COVID-19 pandemic and North Korea completely blocks its borders for quarantine, the South Korean government has continued to make efforts to advance a peace regime on the Korean Peninsula by improving South-North Korean relationships, dialogue and diplomacy based on the close cooperation with the US."

Regarding Japan, where conflicts are intensifying, the white paper kept the expression Japan as the 'closest neighbour'.

The white paper said, "Korea and Japan are the closest neighbours that share values and should cooperate not only for bilateral relations but also for peace and prosperity in Northeast Asia and the world."

The white paper also introduced that the Korean government continued its efforts for peace on the Korean Peninsula, and said that "Despite the slow progress in inter-Korean and US-North Korea relations since 2020, South Korea has made efforts to faithfully implement the joint cooperation projects with North Korea, which were agreed in 2018 Inter-Korean Summit."

Since the US-North Korea summit in Vietnam, broke down in February 2019, the US-North Korea dialogue has been stagnant and inter-Korean relations have also been deadlocked.

Regarding the South Korea-US cooperation, the white paper said, "Based on solid alliances and close cooperation, the two countries stably managed the intensifying situations such as North Korea's missile tests, destruction of a joint liaison office, and 75th anniversary of the Workers' Party."

Regarding Korea-China relations, the white paper said, "Despite the COVID-19 pandemic during 2020, Korea and China stably developed the strategic partnership by actively communication and exchanging through non-face-to-face methods such as video conference, as well as in-person meetings. (ANI/Global Economic)