President Moon Jae-in shakes hands with Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg after holding a news conference at her residential office in Oslo on June 13. (Photo on the courtesy of the website of Cheong Wa Dae)

President Moon Jae-in returned home on June 16 after wrapping up an 8-day visit to Finland, Sweden and Norway.

President Moon made state visits to the three countries June 9-16. His trip to Northern Europe was part of efforts to realize innovative growth, peace and an inclusiveness, the Administration’s three priorities, Cheong Wa Dae said.

As a starter, President Moon visited Finland June 9-11 and held summit talks with Finnish President Sauli Niinisto on June 10, discussing the inter-Korean peace process and boosting bilateral ties in Helsinki. In a joint news conference after their talks, President Moon said, “The inter-Korean peace process has made great strides,” adding, “I hope that the momentum for dialogue continues so that we can resume dialogue between the two Koreas as well as between the U.S. and North Korea.”

Afterward, President Moon made a state visit to Norway June 11-13, the first by a Korean president. At the Korea-Norway summit, Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg expressed hope that Korea and Norway would expand opportunities for cooperation in the eco-friendly shipbuilding and maritime industry. President Moon replied by saying, “Our two countries seem to be a good match.

Norway possesses world-class technology in shipbuilding equipment and supplies while Korea is armed with top-notch shipbuilding capabilities.”

President Moon proposed that the two countries step up cooperation for mutual benefits by drawing on each other’s strengths. President Moon continued, “I am heading to Bergen soon to board the Norwegian Navy's logistics and support vessel KNM Maud – an example of our two countries having successfully expanded shipbuilding and maritime industry cooperation into the defense industry.” He gave high marks to this expansion of bilateral cooperation.

When President Moon asked for Prime Minister Solberg’s opinion on efforts to resolve fine dust and other air pollution issues, she said that in the 1970s to 1980s, so much acid rain fell that people would find dead fish floating upside down. However, she added, Norway strengthened cooperation by utilizing clean technology with neighboring countries and succeeded, stressing the importance of international collaboration among adjacent nations.

Lastly, from June 13-15, President Moon made the first state visit by a Korean president to Sweden and attended an official welcoming ceremony, luncheon and dinner, hosted by HM King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden. President Moon held a summit with Prime Minister Stefan Löfven at the Grand Hotel Saltsjöbaden. They discussed how to expand bilateral cooperation.

At Noting Saltsjöbaden, the venue of the summit, President Moon said, “It is truly meaningful for me to hold a summit with the Prime Minister at this historic venue where the destiny of the world’s finest welfare state was determined through a grand compromise between labor and management.”

Speaking of Sweden’s five-term Social Democrat Riksdag representative Kent Härstedt, who was appointed special envoy to the Korean Peninsula in 2017 by his country’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs, President Moon said, “I extend my gratitude to the Swedish Government for its full support for my Administration’s Korean Peninsula peace process and playing a constructive role by arranging meetings among chief negotiators from both Koreas and the United States and designating a special envoy.”

In reply, Sweden’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Margot Wallström said that the trust-building steps President Moon is taking for peace on the Peninsula deserve high praise and emphasized the significance of utilizing the Swedish special envoy to the Peninsula.

Speaking of the ILO core conventions in relation to the Korea-EU FTA, Prime Minister Löfven said that he had heard that the Korean Government is seeking to ratify the key conventions, which he would see as a huge sign.

President Moon replied, “Ratification of the ILO core conventions is not only one of my campaign pledges, but it also constitutes a change in the overall paradigm in Korea.” He explained that his Administration had already presented its stance and schedule before the National Assembly.

The President went on to say, “I believe that the Swedish Government’s policy of pursuing growth and innovation in parallel has something in common with my governing philosophy of aiming to build an innovative, inclusive nation.”

He proposed that the two countries continue to expand high-level exchanges and other forms of bilateral cooperation.