President Park returns from Europe climate summit
Korea's congress members from the ruling Saenuri Party and other welcoming guests greet President Park Geun-hye as she arrives at Seoul Airport in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, Saturday morning. / Yonhap
President Park Geun-hye returned to Korea on Saturday after participating in the United Nations climate summit in Paris and engaging in talks with leaders from four central European countries.
In Paris, Park called for global efforts to launch a new deal on combating climate change and urged the nations to work together to help make clean energy affordable for as many countries as possible. She spoke of the need for the world to give birth to a new climate regime.
The summit encouraged global leaders to negotiate and agree on lowering the rate of global warming to below 2 degree Celsius by creating legally binding policies and significantly reduce emissions of greenhouse gas.
In Prague, Park met with the prime ministers of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia in the inaugural summit between South Korea and the so-called Visegrad Group.
At the Visegrad summit, Park reportedly pitched Korea’s nuclear reactor to the four leaders in her bid to make inroads into infrastructure projects, Yonhap news agency reported Saturday. The Visegrad Group is pursuing major infrastructure projects expected to be worth over 50 trillion won ($43 billion).
Park also said the group’s embrace of democracy after the collapse of the Soviet Union could teach Korea a lesson as the nation’s unification with North Korea has long been held as a problem that needs to be resolved.
"There are many areas in which Korea can cooperate with these countries to help North Korea embrace change," Park said.