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| ▲ President Yoon Suk Yeol (L) and first lady Kim Keon Hee inspect an honor guard upon arriving at Paris Orly Airport, near Paris, on June 19, 2023. (Pool photo) (Yonhap) |
Yoon-French president
Yoon, French president to discuss N.K. human rights
By Lee Haye-ah
PARIS, June 19 (Yonhap) -- South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and French President Emmanuel Macron will discuss North Korea's human rights situation when they hold a summit in Paris this week, Yoon's office said Monday.
The two leaders are set to meet Tuesday while Yoon is in Paris to attend a general assembly of the Bureau International des Expositions, the international body in charge of overseeing the World Expo, to promote South Korea's bid to host the 2030 World Expo in its southeastern city of Busan.
"Our two countries stress human rights. France has always stressed human rights, and from that perspective, has not established diplomatic ties with North Korea," presidential spokesperson Lee Do-woon told reporters in Paris.
"Under the Yoon Suk Yeol administration, we have not avoided the issue of North Korea's human rights but handled it head on, so this will likely be an important item on the agenda," he said.
Lee particularly noted that Yoon's predecessor, former President Moon Jae-in, used his visits to Europe to ask countries to lift sanctions on North Korea, but that Macron responded clearly that "Now is not the time to lift sanctions but for the international community to work together to implement sanctions."
Yoon and Macron will also discuss industrial cooperation in areas, such as nuclear power and aviation, and plans to cooperate at the U.N. Security Council following South Korea's election as a non-permanent council member from 2024-2025. France is a permanent member of the council.
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