Minister for Foreign Affairs Stephen Smith is in Korea today and tomorrow to meet with his Korean counterpart Yu Myung-hwan, Prime Minister Dr Chung Un-chan and other ministers at the Australia-Republic of Korea Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Seoul.
Top of the agenda will be security, with expectation to build on the Australia-Korea Security Cooperation Initiative launched by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and President Lee Myung-bak in March this year. It will include stabilising the Korean peninsula and denuclearisation.
Smith says he will also “emphasise the importance Australia attaches to concluding a Free Trade Agreement with Korea”.
He added: “Korea is now our third largest goods and services export market. It is Australia’s third-largest source of foreign students and an important tourism market.”
