GOVERNMENT OF KOREA PROVIDES INFORMATION ON COMMUNITY OF DEMOCRACIES CONFERENCE
For Immediate Release: June 12, 2002
Contact: Robert R. LaGamma, 202.789.9771

WASHINGTON, June 12. - The Government of the Republic of Korea has established a website to provide information about the Second Ministerial Conference of the Community of Democracies, which it will host from November 10-12. According to the Korean government, the conference will have as its theme “Democracy: Investing for Peace and Prosperity,” and will bring together foreign ministers from more than 100 countries.

The Korean website for the ministerial conference is www.cd2002.go.kr . A second website, not yet established, to be organized by the Korean Sejong Institute, will provide information about the Community of Democracies’ Non-Governmental Forum to be held parallel to the Ministerial Conference. The Non-Governmental Forum is expected to attract more than 300 representatives from the independent sector from all over the globe.

The Republic of Korea announcement identifies the Seoul Convention and Exhibition Center, in the heart of the Korean capital’s business district, as the venue for the Conference.

The official Korean announcement that Korea was selected as host to the second ministerial conference by delegates to the first ministerial meeting of the CD held in Warsaw, Poland in June 2000. The decision to hold the second ministerial meeting in Seoul, according to the Korean government, was due in large part to the global recognition of Korea’s successful democratic transition. It notes that Korea’s transition illustrates the “immense potential of democracy as political governance.” And it says that Korea’s rise from the ruins of war and poverty would not have been complete without its access to democracy.

In its Internet announcement the Korean government provides a tentative agenda for the ministerial conference beginning November 10. Aside from plenary sessions to be presided over by host Korea, the ministerial sessions will tentatively include roundtables on such subjects as Consolidating Democratic Institutions, Regional Cooperation to Promote Democracy, Media and Democracy and Coordinating Democratic Assistance.

The Koreans also announced plans for a press center to be located in the Harmony Ballroom, located on the basement floor of the Intercontinental Hotel, adjacent to the COEX venue for the conference. It adds that an Information Desk will be located in the hotel’s first floor lobby.