1. 1st Vice Foreign Minister Shin Kak-soo attended the International Conference on Afghanistan in Kabul, 
Afghanistan, on July 20. The first such meeting held in Afghanistan was attended by Afghan President 
Hamid Karzai; UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon; foreign ministers of some 40 countries; deputy 
foreign ministers of some ten countries; and officials of ten-odd international organizations.

2. In the Conference, the Afghan government and the international community reaffirmed the following: 
the Afghan government’s goal to take charge of security of Afghanistan by 2014 as declared in the 
January Conference in London; and the principle of Afghan leadership, under which the Afghan 
government will take the lead in security, economic development and all other sectors. In addition, 
an agreement was reached to realign international assistance for the country with the Afghan 
government’s National Priority Program in each field, including governance, and economic, 
agricultural-rural and human-resources development.

3. During the meeting, the Afghan government announced the Afghan Peace and Reintegration Program, 
a concrete action plan designed to help with the reintegration of the Taliban into society. The international 
community took note of the Afghan government having set up the Program after gathering opinions of 
various political groups in the country through the Peace Jirga (the decision-making consultative body 
of the Pashtun people in Afghanistan) in June, and agreed to help the government draw tangible 
outcomes from the Program.

4. Vice Minister Shin explained the Korean government’s plan to align aid for Afghanistan with its National 
Priority Program; to extend active support with capability buildup of Afghan provincial governments, one of 
Afghanistan’s priorities, through the Korean provincial reconstruction team that inaugurated operations on 
July 1; and to contribute a combined US$5 million over next five years to the Peace and Reintegration Fund 
aimed at supporting the reintegration of the Taliban. Further, he expressed expectation for successful 
progress of the Kabul Process launched at the latest Conference for the transfer of security responsibility 
to Afghanistan.

                          Spokesperson and Deputy Minister for Public Relations of MOFAT

* unofficial translation