By Na Jeong-ju
Staff Reporter
Prime Minister Han Seung-soo pledged Thursday that South Korea will actively participate in negotiations on upgrading the global financial system and seek a larger role in U.N. peacekeeping and anti-terrorism efforts.
At his meeting with U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, Han also said Korea will increase cooperation with the United Nations in aiding poor countries.
``Han told Ban that Korea, a co-chair of the Group of 20 summit of industrialized and developing countries, aims to play a bigger role in enhancing the global financial system and requested the U.N. support the plan,'' Han's office said.
Han also pledged to strengthen cooperation with the U.N. by increasing official development assistance (ODA) for underdeveloped nations around the world and supporting the global body's peacekeeping and anti-terrorism campaigns.
The prime minister said Korea plans to dispatch a naval ship and military personnel to coastal waters off Somalia as part of international efforts to protect commercial ships from Somali pirates. The National Assembly will discuss a motion on a military dispatch to Somalia next month.
Han also held one-one-one talks with other global leaders at the Davos forum, which opened Wednesday for a five-day run to find solutions to the global economic recession. About 40 global leaders from around the world are participating.
During a meeting with WEF Chairman Klaus Schwab, Han said Korea will cooperate with the organization to help the world ride out economic problems. The WEF will organize an economic forum jointly with the Federation of Korean Industries in Seoul in June.
Han will also meet with Swiss President Hans-Rudolf Merz, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen.
Han will also ask for their support in South Korea's bid to join the Financial Stability Forum (FSF), which was created in 1999 by the Group of Seven (G7) countries to promote international financial market stability, his office said.