By UN Journal Lee Kap-soo

Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul on April 26 met with Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis, who was in Korea to attend the opening ceremony of the Embassy of Lithuania in Seoul, and discussed ways to promote bilateral relations.

Minister Cho said that the opening of the Lithuanian Embassy will be an important step in the development of bilateral relations, and asked Minister Landsbergis to pay special attention to Korea's plans to open an embassy in Lithuania.

Minister Landesbergis said that he was opening a permanent mission given the importance of relations with South Korea and the Indo-Pacific region, and offered his full support for the opening of the Korean Embassy in Lithuania.

The two ministers also agreed to work closely together to identify concrete cooperation projects centered on high-tech industries such as energy, bio, and lasers.

Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea.

It borders Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, Poland to the south, and Russia to the southwest, with a maritime border with Sweden to the west.

Lithuania covers an area of 65,300 km2, with a population of 2.86 million. Its capital and largest city is Vilnius; other major cities are Kaunas, Klaipėda, Šiauliai and Panevėžys. Lithuanians belong to the ethnolinguistic group of the Balts and speak Lithuanian, one of only a few living members of the Baltic branch of the Indo-European language family, which is also the most widely spoken language of the branch.