President Yoon Suk Yeol and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet agreed Thursday to establish a strategic partnership between their countries and expand cooperation across various sectors, including defense, trade and infrastructure. The leaders adopted a joint statement on the establishment of a strategic partnership between South Korea and Cambodia during a summit at the presidential office, which was held on the second day of Hun Manet's four-day official visit to South Korea. The statement calls for strengthening defense and security cooperation, including through a South Korean naval vessel's port call in Cambodia later this year and increased cooperation in peacekeeping operations as well as against transnational crimes, such as drug smuggling, human trafficking and cyber crimes. Under the strategic partnership, the two countries will also increase economic and financial cooperation, including through their bilateral free trade agreement, and promote cooperation across the social, cultural and developm ent sectors. The statement contains the two countries' reaffirmation of the importance of international peace and security, free trade, and the rule of law, as well as their commitment to working together at the United Nations, and other international and multilateral organizations. It further urges North Korea to abide by U.N. Security Council resolutions and expresses support for South Korea's comprehensive strategic partnership with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), its Indo-Pacific strategy and the Korea-ASEAN Solidarity Initiative. The two countries signed six documents on the occasion of the summit, including a protocol renewing and increasing South Korea's loan to Cambodia from US$1.5 billion in 2022-26 to $3 billion in 2022-30 through the Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF). The other documents were a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on investment cooperation, an MOU on deepening cooperation in the intellectual property sector, a letter of intent on strengthening cooper ation against drug smuggling, an MOU on training human resources, and a contract to provide an EDCF loan to rebuild roads and construct a bridge in Cambodia. Source: Yonhap News Agency
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