61320 Further, to strengthen the country's effort in addressing environmental issues, President Kim promoted the Environment Agency to a Ministry.
61321 South Korea's attention is about to expand from the situations around the country such as the Japan-ROK and North-South relations to the global arena.
61322 We, too, should view South Korea's globalization policy favorably and further reinforce our cooperative relations.
61323 On that account as well, it is desirable to bring a settlement to the issue of healing the wounds of war as soon as possible.
61324 With the lessons and growth over the last 30 years being the cornerstone, both Japan and South Korea have entered an era to develop new cooperative relations for peace and stability in Asia and the world.
61325 For a start, in cooperation with South Korea, we should accelerate the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's participation in the international community.
61326 Additionally, our joint effort to address environmental problems in Asia will be an important issue.
61327 Viewing this year as a new milestone instead of expecting the other party to do something for them, we hope that both nations in cooperation with one another will seek ideas and policies to define what they can do to contribute to the peace and stability of Asia and the world.
61328 After ten years of taking the reigns of the unification of Europe, Mr. Delors will resign from his post of President of the European Commission, the executive body of the European Union, in January and Prime Minister Santer of Luxembourg will succeed him as the new President.
61329 Mr. Delors has completed the integration of the internal market and put the Treaty of European Union into effect.
61330 The incoming President Santer will aim to complete the economic and monetary union as well as political union, advocated by the Maastricht Treaty, but the road ahead will be rocky for the new administration succeeding Mr. Delors, dubbed the "President of Europe," who has a strong personality and had pushed forward with unification.
61331 The economic and monetary union, which is the highlight of the Maastricht Treaty, is going nowhere.
61332 The European Monetary System (EMS), the foundation of the currency unification, broke down, and Britain and Italy have remained withdrawn from the Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) since the currency crisis in the fall of 1992.
61333 In the summer of 1993, they were forced to move to the de facto floating exchange rate system.
61334 On top of all that, the deep recession worked against the unification.