President Park Geun-hye continued to engage in active summit diplomacy in 2014.
This year, the president visited 14 countries during six overseas trips and focused on multilateral diplomacy.
In January, President Park made state visits to India and Switzerland. In Switzerland, Park attended the 44th annual World Economic Forum, also known as the Davos Forum.
In March, the president visited the Netherlands and attended the Third Nuclear Security Summit in The Hague and also held a three-way summit with the leaders of the United States and Japan. The leaders focused discussions on North Korea’s nuclear ambitions. Park then visited Germany where she revealed the so-called Dresden Initiative that outlined her ideas for the unification of the two Koreas.
In May, she visited the United Arab Emirates to attend a ceremony marking the installment of a Korean-built nuclear reactor in Barakah. She also held a summit with the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
In June, the president visited Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. The trip laid the foundation for South Korean firms to make inroads into the areas of railways, housing, environment, defense industries and information and communication technologies in the three countries.
After a visit to Italy to attend the Asia-Europe Meeting, the president toured China, Myanmar and Australia in November to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit, East Asia Summit, ASEAN-plus-three Summit and the G20 Summit.
Finally, in December, Park attended the ASEAN-South Korea Commemorative Summit held in Busan.
This year also saw a number of foreign leaders visit South Korea for summits with President Park, including U.S. President Barack Obama and Chinese
President Xi Jinping. In addition, leaders of Canada, Australia, Portugal, Vietnam, the Ivory Coast, Rwanda, the Netherlands, Qatar and Hungary also visited South Korea.
The president’s summit diplomacy has garnered support from the international communities for South Korea’s security and unification policies while bilateral free trade agreements with China, New Zealand and Vietnam this year expanded the nation’s economic territory.

1. The Sinking of the Sewol Ferry & Special Sewol Law

2. Dissolution of Unified Progressive Party

3. June 4 Local Elections & July 30 By-elections

4. President Park Geun-hye’s Summit Diplomacy

5. UN General Assembly Passes New Resolution on N. Korea’s Human Rights, UN Security Council Places It on Its Agenda

6. S. Korea Expands “Economic Territory”

7. S. Korea Sees Trade Volume Surpass $1 Tln in Record Time

8. Shooting Rampage at GOP and Military Reform

9. Pope Francis Visits South Korea

10. Sochi Winter Olympics & The Incheon Asian Games