1. Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se hosted a luncheon at the Westin Chosun Hotel in Seoul on September 13 for about 150 lawmakers and politicians from around 40 countries participating in the 7th International Conference of Asian Political Parties (ICAPP) Special Conference (theme: women’s leadership and empowerment).

2. In his luncheon remarks, Minister Yun stated that rather than being just satisfied with making efforts to protect women’s rights, we should now take a step forward and aggressively seek to encourage greater participation of women in all affairs of our society and promote self-development. The Minister added that women’s leadership and empowerment is not only an issue to create new values in our society and economy, but also an issue to promote development.

3. After emphasizing that the Park Geun-hye government is determined to bring about a new change in its policy on women, Minister Yun explained the current status of implementation and direction of the ROK’s foreign policy on women, aimed at empowering women on the international stage.

o In particular, Minister Yun said that in addition to its efforts within the UN, the ROK government is pursuing development assistance policies regarding women, with the understanding that gender equality and the empowerment of women are important goals in themselves and at the same time a necessary condition for the sustainable development.

4. Minister Yun stressed that at the center of ensuring the happiness of the people – the policy priority of the Park Geun-hye government – lies the happiness of women and stated that the ROK government will continue active participation and expand contribution in the international efforts to promote women’s rights and empowerment. The Minister requested the ICAPP’s support for this. 


             Spokesperson and Deputy Minister for Public Relations of MOFA

*unofficial translation