Minister of Foreign Affairs Kang Kyung-wha delivers the keynote speech at the 37th UNHCR Session in Geneva on Feb. 26. (Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
By Lee Kyong Mi and Yoon Sojung
Minister of Foreign Affairs Kang Kyung-wha attended the high-level segment of the 37th regular session of the U.N. Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva, Switzerland, on Feb. 26.
Minister Kang said that the message of peace and prosperity from the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games should help establish peace on the Korean Peninsula and improve North Korean human rights.
In her speech, Minister Kang said, “The PyeongChang Olympic Winter Games sent a message of peace and prosperity to the Korean Peninsula and beyond.”
“The PyeongChang Paralympics, to be held from March 9 to 18, will demonstrate the greatness of the human spirit, and indeed, a heartfelt aspiration for peace.”
She also said that, “It's imperative to ensure that the spirit of PyeongChang lives long after the Games, so that peace can take firm root on the Korean Peninsula, and so that the dire human rights situation in the North can be improved,” while urging the international community to keep taking an interest in the matter.
On the same day, she had a meeting with Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto and with her Swiss counterpart, Ignazio Cassis. In the meetings, she asked for cooperation so that in the future the latest mood around inter-Korean relations, created by the 2018 Winter Olympics, could lead to denuclearization talks.