SEOUL– President Moon Jae-in said Thursday that the threat of a new Cold War is looming over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, urging the government to set up strategic plans to cope with a fast-changing global security environment.
Moon made the remarks at a National Security Council (NSC) meeting earlier in the day, during which participants discussed security challenges between 2021 and 2030, according to presidential spokesperson Park Kyung-mee.
“The current security aspect is very complex,” Moon was quoted by Park as saying. “Due to the outbreak of the pandemic, nations are competing to lead supply chains, and competition to preoccupy and maintain new technologies continues.”
As nations show an increasing sign of forming blocs, “There is an aspect of a new Cold War, which has been amplified by the Ukraine crisis,” Moon told the meeting, according to Park.
Moon urged his aides to draw up strategic plans to deal with new security challenges, Park said.
Long-term security challenges include intensifying competition between democratic and authoritarian governments, a rise in populism amid democratic regression and global supply disruptions, Cheong Wa Dae said in a statement.
In order to overcome the challenges, South Korea needs to step up cooperation with the international community for a global recovery of democratic values, it said.
Also, South Korea needs to make more efforts to secure stable imports of foreign minerals to cope with trade protectionism by nations around the world, it said.
A decline in the nation’s overall food self-sufficiency was cited as one of the long-term security challenges and the NSC discussed ways to diversity import sources of grains and other food items, according to the statement.
Source: Yonhap News Agency