On February 8, 2018, Zarema Shaukenova the Director of the Institute of Strategic Studies under the President of Kazakhstan, the Deputy Director Sanat Kushkumbaev and the Research Fellow Kumbat Nurgalieva received the representatives of the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Kazakhstan; namely, the Minister-Counsellor Khan Man Chun, the Political Adviser Kim Jin Dong, and the Assistant for Political Affairs Daulet Ibraev.
The discussion covered the current state and prospects of the Kazakh-Korean relations as well as Kazakhstan's chairmanship in the UN Security Council and the speech on "Non-Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction: Confidence-Building Measures" given at the UN Security Council session by President N.A. Nazarbayev, where he called on all the parties concerned to accelerate their efforts to find an early and constructive solution of the North Korean issue and stressed Kazakhstan’s readiness to provide a platform for such talks.
The Minister-Counsellor expressed his appreciation for the consistent position of Kazakhstan on the Korean issues that had been conveyed by N.A. Nazarbayev to the international community and congratulated Kazakhstan on its successful chairmanship of the UN Security Council. He also congratulated the Institute for Strategic Studies under the President of Kazakhstan on its good progress in the “Global Go” think tanks’ ranking (http://kisi.kz/en/categories/events-2018/posts/the-kaziss-remains-the-only-kazakhstani- think-tank-which-wa).
The two parties agreed to hold a roundtable discussion with the participation authoritative experts from the two countries on the peacekeeping initiatives of Kazakhstan in the UN Security Council in the context of the situation on the Korean peninsula in April 2018.
The meeting took place on the eve of the opening of the 2018 Olympic Games in Pyeongchang. The KazISS Director noted that the athletes of the independent Kazakhstan have participated in the Winter Olympics 7 times. As N.A. Nazarbayev rightly noted in his book "The Era of Independence": "XVII Summer Asian Games in Incheon (Korea) in 2014 were the greatest success of Kazakhstan; the team finished on the fourth place with 84 medals. Three gold medals were won by swimmer Balandin. Kazakhstan’s boxers performed excellently and won six gold medals out of ten". According to the National Olympic Committee, at the 2018 Winter Olympics, Kazakhstan will be represented by 46 athletes in 9 sports.
The KazISS wished the Republic of Korea an excellent Olympic Games. In their turn, the Korean diplomats wished the Kazakhstan team the successful participation.
The KazISS wholeheartedly supports our Kazakhstan’s athletes! Alga Kazakhstan!
