President Yoon Suk Yeol held a series of bilateral summits with the leaders of five Pacific island nations in Seoul on Sunday and discussed ways to boost ties in areas including climate change and development cooperation, his office said.

Yoon held talks with Kiribati’s President Taneti Maamau at his office at 3 p.m., followed by Tongan Prime Minister Siaosi Sovaleni and Prime Minister Kausea Natano of Tuvalu.

He also held summits with Vanuatu’s Prime Minister Ishmael Kalsakau and Prime Minister James Marape of Papua New Guinea, according to Yoon’s office, YONHAP reported.

Yoon said that South Korea, a country that pursues the value of freedom and rule of law, hopes to establish a “righteous relationship that is also based on trust” with the Pacific island nations, presidential spokesperson Lee Do-woon said in a written briefing.

Lee said Yoon also called for assessing bilateral cooperation and expanding mutually beneficial cooperation with each country in areas like development cooperation, climate change, fishery and health care.

Noting that South Korea serves as an exemplary model for development, the leaders of the five nations thanked Yoon for organizing the summits and expressed their intent to expand bilateral cooperation across all areas, according to Lee.

Source: Bahrain News Agency