Iván Duque visited the militarized border between the two Koreas

As part of the state visit to South Korea, the President of Colombia, Iván Duque, hI made a visit to the militarized border that divides the Korean peninsula in two.

The first president of the Colombians was received in Camp Bonifas, located a few hundred meters from the dividing line, by Paul J. LaCamera, Commander of US Forces Korea (USFK), US-South Korean Combined Forces and United Nations Command, of which Colombia is a part.

Regarding the Colombian presence at said border post, President Duque wrote on his Twitter account that “Multilateralism works to maintain harmony between peoples, with common work that guarantees a mandate of peace and entrusted neutrality”.

Colombia has two officers in the border control zone as part of the United Nations multinational force, since he joined him during the Korean War (1950-53), in the quThe country’s military forces were present to support the government in Seoul, becoming the the only Latin American country to have participated in the competition.

The president was able to see North Korean territory from the guard post Ouellette, located next to the village of Panmunjom, which is the only demilitarized zone (DMZ) point in the one who sees the faces of the soldiers of the two Koreas and of the forces integrated both in the command of the UNO and in the commission of the neutral countries which ensures the respect of the cease-fire.

At the end of your visit to the militarized border, the Colombian president expressed:

Today, we are honored to visit this site and do so to strengthen Colombia’s military cooperation with the United Nations as well as with South Korea.

Besides, Duque underlined the way in which the Colombian military contribution contributes to the “maintenance of peace in this peninsula” within the framework of the United Nations command on this border..

The visit was accompanied by the President of the Colombian First Lady, María Juliana Ruiz, the Colombian Ambassador to Korea, Juan Carlos Caiza, the Commander of the Military Forces, Luis Fernando Navarro and the Chief of Staff of the Presidency, María Paula Correa.

Duque called for Colombia to be part of the International Vaccine Institute

As part of the results of the state visit to South Korea, President Iván Duque, along with the First Lady, the Minister of Health and the Colombian Ambassador to Seoul, visited the headquarters of the Institute United Nations International Vaccine (IVI) country in Asia.

The Colombian President was received by Dr Jerome Kim, Director General of the institution, and Kim Jung-sook, First Lady of the Republic and Honorary President of the Support Committee.

During his visit, Duque delivered a letter of intent to Dr Kim for Colombia to be admitted as a member country of the IVI. Contrary to what the president himself and the national media have reported, the country is at an early stage of its admission into the organization and is not “Attached” To the same.

In joint statements with Dr Kim, Duque assured that this had “Open the way” for Colombia to become a member: “Today we stand in solidarity with the conviction that vaccines not only save lives, but can provide multiple additional economic and social benefits. (…) We worked in Colombia with the dengue vaccine and now with the chikungunya vaccine. We hope that with the help of the president, with Colombian scientists and researchers we can advance other vaccines for global health and bring the benefits of immunization to the world“, expressed the director of the institute, together with the president.

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