“We hope that Palestine’s representative office will be set up in South Korea at an earliest date because we believe that the move will help promote the relations between the two sides.”
“I expect that Palestine’s ties with North Korea could help ease tension on the Korean Peninsula and further promote peace in the region. Palestine supports the removal of weapons of mass destruction and nuclear weapons in the Middle East and on the divided Korean Peninsula.”
– Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki
South Korea established its permanent representative office in Palestine in August for the first time. Previously, Seoul diplomats had not been stationed in the country and instead dually worked with Israel and Palestine. (Photo courtesy of Wikipedia)
SEOUL, Feb. 13 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea and Palestine agreed Friday to start consultations on the establishment of Palestine’s representative office in Seoul, Ramallah’s top diplomat said.
The agreement came in a meeting between visiting Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki and his South Korean counterpart Yun Byung-se held in Seoul to discuss the Israel-Palestine conflict and security issues on the Korean Peninsula.
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“We hope that Palestine’s representative office will be set up in South Korea at an earliest date because we believe that the move will help promote the relations between the two sides,” Maliki said in an interview with a group of reporters.
“To this end, the foreign ministers agreed to start consultations to review the move,” he added.
Maliki arrived in Seoul on Thursday for a five-day stay, the first leg of his Asian tour that will also take him to Japan. Palestine has kept diplomatic ties with North Korea while South Korea has not recognized Palestine as a state.’
Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki speaks to reporters in Seoul on Feb. 13, 2015. (Yonhap)
Maliki expressed hope that South Korea could recognize Palestine’s statehood someday, adding that it is totally up to Seoul to decide as it is a matter of South Korea’s sovereignty.
His itinerary in South Korea includes a visit to the truce village of Panmunjom on the border with North Korea on Saturday.
“I expect that Palestine’s ties with North Korea could help ease tension on the Korean Peninsula and further promote peace in the region,” he added.
Maliki said Palestine supports the removal of weapons of mass destruction and nuclear weapons in the Middle East and on the divided Korean Peninsula. But he denied speculation that Islamic militant Hamas has replenished arms stockpiles with weapons from Pyongyang.
“I’ve never heard about North Korea’s supply of arms (to Hamas),” Maliki said. “Hamas does not need to go to North Korea to acquire weapons as it can get weapons in the Middle East. There are many stockpiles being replenished by arms from Libya.”
The U.S. claimed Palestine is not qualified to joining the ICC as it does not see Palestine as a sovereign state. The U.N. confirmed that Palestine will formally become a member of the ICC on April 1.
“I think that it would be very wrong that the U.S. has threatened to cut off an aid to Palestine, citing the ICC move. The international community should not follow suit,” Maliki said.
He said that Palestine hopes to learn from South Korea’s development-related experience as Seoul has become a major donor country from an aid recipient nation.
Maliki said he plans to meet with the head of the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), Seoul’s state-run grant aid agency, as Ramallah is seeking to set up its own aid agency.
(Yonhap)
