1. As the Republic of Korea was invited by the UN to the Geneva II Conference, aimed at resolving the Syrian crisis, to be held in Montreux, Switzerland, on January 22, a delegation led by Second Vice Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul will be sent to the Conference. 

o The UN Secretary-General announced on January 19, New York time, that 10 additional countries including the ROK will be invited to attend the Geneva II Conference.

* 10 additional invitees : ROK, Australia, Bahrain, Belgium, Greece, the Vatican, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands and Iran

2. On December 20, 2013, UN-Arab League Joint Special Representative for Syria Lakhdar Brahimi announced that 30 countries directly related to the Syrian issue had been invited to the Geneva II Conference. In the process of increasing the number of countries to be invited following additional consultations, middle-power countries mentioned above, which had contributed to addressing the Syrian crisis, were additionally invited. 

3. The ROK government hopes that the upcoming Conference will serve as an opportunity to provide important momentum for a political resolution of the Syrian crisis. The ROK government also hopes that a meeting between the Syrian government and Syrian opposition groups to be held starting January 24 will produce a more concrete and substantive agreement.

4. The ROK has worked to resolve the Syrian crisis by joining efforts to destroy Syria's chemical weapons, providing humanitarian assistance and holding the third meeting of the Economic Recovery Working Group for Syria. The ROK, as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council and responsible middle-power country in the international community, will continue to play an active role in international efforts to resolve the Syrian crisis politically.

                 Spokesperson and Deputy Minister for Public Relations of MOFA

*unofficial translation