3月25日，在亚洲青年领袖论坛开幕式上，韩国国会议员、韩国国会外交与统一委员会副主席李在汀发表主旨演讲。

全文如下：

很高兴见到大家！我是担任大韩民国国会外交与统一委员会副主席的共同民主党国会议员李在汀。衷心祝贺开启亚洲未来的“亚洲青年领袖论坛”召开，我也向来自亚洲各国的青年领袖表示欢迎和感谢。

今年是韩中建交31周年。1992年韩中建交后，韩中之间的贸易额增加48倍，人员交流人次增加100倍，开创了1000万交流时代，实现了全世界史无前例的繁荣与稳定。在相互尊重、互利共赢的原则基础上，现在两国将共同走向更大的繁荣。

当然也有困难。我们都处于抗击新型冠状病毒肺炎、经济不确定性深化、能源紧张和气候危机等复合性危机之中。因此，今后在座的亚洲青年的角色将更加重要。韩国、中国和亚洲共同面临的危机贯穿过去，并将延续至未来。

只有加强相互间的合作、扩大国家间的共享，才能促进人类文明的进步，克服共同的问题。我们已经成功应对了像新型冠状病毒这样严重威胁人类健康的的公共危机，我们认识到只有全世界团结一致才能克服危机。只有保护自然、应对气候危机，才能把美丽的自然和可持续的生活留给下一代。这无需赘言，相信各位青年朋友应该比任何人都清楚。

新型冠状病毒使国际社会在不远的未来将面临的挑战浮出水面。就像刚才提到的，国际上在衡量新冠疫情的影响和预测后疫情时代的社会时，很多专家认为社会难以恢复到新型冠状病毒肺炎前的常态，也不排除感染变异毒株的可能性。后疫情时代不是彻底消灭病毒的时代，而是因疫情发生剧变的新生活方式、新常态的适应过程。

在后疫情时代，将热议“人类安全”的概念，即保护人类免受疾病、环境和各种政治、经济和社会风险。除了政治和经济原因外，也将强调可持续发展对于社会稳定、社会融合和环境保护的重要性。

尽管新型冠状病毒肺炎带来了不确定性和损失，但国际合作领域的前景并不暗淡。为了实现人类安全和可持续发展，不仅是国家层面，社会上的各种组织和团体也一直保持着合作，为迎接后疫情时代的到来努力。如果说，到目前为止，为了应对迅速蔓延的冠状病毒，我们一直专注于短期目标的实现，现在是时候从可持续发展的角度出发，设立长期目标，转变新模式。我们必须防止类似新型冠状病毒的悲剧重演，通过分析和预测为类似的威胁做好准备，为国际社会更美好的未来做好准备。

可持续发展不仅追求我们这一代人的稳定和平衡发展，也追求后代的稳定和平衡发展，所以在讨论可持续发展的过程当中，下一代主力——青年的参与至关重要。因此，在本次论坛上，从青年的视角探讨后疫情时代的合作与团结以及未来的发展方向，意义重大。    

我认为青年在亚洲的作用今后还会进一步扩大。尤其是在政治、经济、文化领域有着共同挑战的亚洲国家，青年之间的沟通和交流将成为克服共同危机、解开难题的重要契机，我也期待今天的论坛能进一步扩大积极沟通和交流。希望本次亚洲青年领袖论坛能够围绕开创亚洲的未来、我们主导的世界的未来进行精彩的讨论。希望邻国韩国和中国的后代彼此帮助、互相理解，“守望相助、风雨同舟”，共同度过今后的危机。

On 25 March, Lee Jae-jung, member of the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea and vice chairperson of Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee of the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea, delivered a keynote speech at the Opening Ceremony of the Asia Youth Leaders Forum. Following is the full text of the speech.

It is a pleasure to meet you. I am Lee Jae-jung, the vice chairperson of the Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee of the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea. I am from the Democratic Party. I’d like to congratulate on the opening of the Asia Youth Leaders Forum that will pave the way for Asia’s future. To the youth leaders from various Asian countries, I send you my warmest welcome and regards.

This year marks the 31st anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Korea. Since 1992, trade volume increased 48 times, and people-to-people exchanges grew more than 100 times to tens of millions. We have both accomplished success and stability that was never seen anywhere else in the world. Under the principle of mutual respect and mutual benefits, our two countries will march towards greater success.

Of course, there are challenges. We are both in the middle of crises such as COVID-19, economic uncertainties, energy shortage, and climate change. Therefore, the role of Asian youth like you will be more important. The crises facing Korea, China, and Asia have been going on from the past and will continue into the future.

Only by strengthening cooperation and enhancing sharing can we advance the human civilization and overcome common problems. Having been through such public health crises as COVID-19 that threaten the health of the whole world, we realize that only when the world comes together can we overcome such crises and that only by protecting nature and tackling the climate crises can we leave the beautiful nature and sustainable life to the next generation. Our young friends here should know this better than anyone else.

The pandemic has brought to light the challenges the international community will be facing in the near future. As I mentioned early, when it comes to the impact of the pandemic and our societies after it, many experts claim that it is almost impossible to go back to what we were before the pandemic, and there is no guarantee that we are safe from any new variants. This post-COVID era is not an era of COVID eradication but rather an era in which we adapt to this new normal, new lifestyle that has drastically changed since the pandemic.

In this post-COVID era, there will be many talks of the concept of “human security”, i.e., protecting a human from illness, environment, and political, economic, and social risks. In addition to these political and economic reasons, there will be highlight on the importance of sustainable development to social stability, social integration, and environmental conservation.

Despite the uncertainties and losses caused by the pandemic, the prospects of international cooperation remain bright. To achieve human security and sustainability, not only countries, but also organizations and civil groups in the society have been working together and ready to make further efforts during the post-COVID era. If, in response to the pandemic, we had been focusing on the short-term goals, now is the time to create the long-term agenda with the sustainable development perspective and to build a new paradigm. We must prevent such a tragedy from repeating itself, prepare for another threat through analysis and prediction, and prepare for a better future for the global community.

Sustainable development calls for not just our generation’s but future generations’ stable and balanced development. Therefore, in discussing sustainable development, the participation of youth, the protagonists of the next generation, is essential. This is why it is important to discuss post-COVID cooperation and solidarity from the perspective of youth at this forum.

I’m now in my second 4-year term in Korea. I have been a member of the National Assembly for seven years. In my last term, I was the longest-serving spokesperson for the Democratic Party. During the pandemic, I was the spokesperson. When the whole world competed to secure masks, vaccines, and tests, I said in my spokesperson’s comments that we needed the wisdom to overcome this together. However, at that time, many public opinions concerned about the COVID situation in Korea claimed that it was a very irresponsible statement as a spokesperson for the ruling party. But after a while, we all knew that we were constantly thinking and trying to work together. Our young leaders were right.

I believe the role of youth leaders in Asia will be even bigger in the future. Particularly, in Asian countries, which have common political, economic, and cultural challenges, communication and idea exchanges between youth will be an opportunity to overcome shared crises and untangle knots. I hope through today’s forum, active communication and exchanges will be further expanded.

I expect this Asia Youth Leaders Forum to have a variety of discussions on shaping the future of Asia, a future in which we lead the world. I hope future generation of us neighbors, China and Korea, will support and understand each other, just like “looking out for each other and sailing together through storms” in the Chinese saying, and overcome future crises together.