President Moon Jae-in speaks during a ceremony commemorating the National Liberation Day at Culture Station Seoul 284 in central Seoul, Aug. 15. Courtesy of Cheong Wa Dae

President Moon Jae-in pledged Korea will enhance its contributions to global efforts as a developed nation by joining forces with other nations to fight COVID-19, pursue open trade and respond to climate change.

President Moon made the pledge during his speech on the August 15 National Liberation Day.

“This past June, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development unanimously agreed to upgrade the status of Korea to an advanced economy, the first time ever for a developing nation,” President Moon said during the speech at a congratulatory event at Culture Station Seoul 284, the art complex based in the colonial-era Seoul Station building.

“As we have now become an advanced country, we have yet another dream: to become a peaceful, dignified advanced nation and to become a country that fulfills its fair share of duties within the international community,” he said.

“Building upon capabilities nurtured through openness and cooperation, we will actively contribute to overcoming the COVID-19 crisis as well as to establishing a peaceful order and the reconstruction of the global economy in the post-COVID-19 era.”

For this goal, President Moon stressed a three-pronged strategy: making Korea one of the global hubs of COVID-19 vaccine production, strengthening the country’s role in the global supply chain and fulfilling Korea’s responsibility in the global response to climate change.

On the global vaccine hub plan, the President noted that Korea has the world’s second-largest biopharmaceutical production capacity, and this will be boosted by the Korea-U.S. global vaccine partnership, on which President Moon and U.S. President Joe Biden agreed during their summit in Washington, D.C., in May.

“The government will join the efforts of businesses to put the first homegrown vaccine on the market before the end of the first half next year,” President Moon said.

Regarding global supply chains, President Moon cited Korean companies’ “unmatched” prowess in the global semiconductor and secondary battery markets, adding Korea will “contribute to supply chain stability worldwide” while widening Korea’s technological lead over competing countries to consolidate its status as a major international base for the supply of needed goods.

President Moon also said Korea will fulfill its responsibility to the global efforts to battle climate change. Citing the government’s 2050 carbon neutrality initiative, the President said “it will by no means be easy” but that it should not be perceived as a burden.

“This grand, global socioeconomic transformation toward carbon neutrality will bring unprecedented innovations and create numerous jobs,” President Moon said. “This is also a golden opportunity for us to leap forward as a pacesetting nation.”

President Moon pledged the government will fulfill its responsibilities as a member of the international community by pledging its 2030 Nationally Determined Contributions – Korea’s promise to make feasible greenhouse gas reductions in line with the Paris Agreement.

While making those pledges, President Moon also proposed “a Korean Peninsula model” which is aimed at the two Koreas’ coexisting through denuclearization and permanent peace.

“Although unification may take some more time, we can create a Korean Peninsula model in which the two Koreas coexist and contribute to the prosperity of Northeast Asia as a whole through denuclearization and permanent peace on the peninsula,” President Moon said, adding he will make efforts to have North Korea join the Northeast Asia Cooperation Initiative for Infectious Disease Control and Public Health.

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