GLOBAL PANEL -
NORTH KOREA INITIATIVE

5th Session: Seoul, Republic of Korea
16-18 May 2007

The aims of the North Korea Initiative are:

1. to create a 500 million Euro investment fund for North Korea (a sum which would provide every North Korean with food for a year);
2. to work behind the scenes to facilitate contacts between DPRK and the international community;
3. to help create a European consensus on the North Korean issue;
4. to develop a comprehensive approach that will help establish a series of incentives for the DPRK to join the international system;
5. to devise a plan for the DPRK’s integration into a regional economic and security system;
6. to encourage economic ties between the DPRK and European businesses.

Amongst those present at the 5th Session of the NKI in Seoul will be:

1. Hon. Hassan Abouyoub, Chief Foreign Policy Adviser to King Mohammed VI of Morocco;
2. Yossef Bodansky, Senior Advisor, Congressional Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare (Director 1988-2004);
3. Aidan Foster-Carter, Honorary Senior Researcher, University of Leeds, UK;
4. Hon Jens Hald Madsen MP, Chairman of the Foreign Policy Committee of the Danish Parliament;
5. Dr. Haksoon Paik, Special Advisor to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Korean Peninsula Issues; Senior Fellow, Sejong Institute;
6. Gen. Dieter Stöckmann (ret.), Former Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe, SHAPE; German Head of Bilateral German-Chinese Security Talks;
7. Georgi Toloraya, Research Director, Center for Contemporary Korean Studies, IMEMO, Moscow.

The programme will include a visit to the Kaesong Industrial Zone (Hyundai Asan).

Sessions of the NKI have been held in Sydney (Nov 2005); Brussels (June 2006, with the participation of Assistant Secretary Christopher Hill); Berlin (Sept 2006); and Bratislava (March 2007). The NKI has shadowed the Six Party Talks and remained in close contact with its principle players.

Press Conference – 17:00 Friday 18 May
Hyundai Asan