Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha held phone talks with the foreign policy chief of the European Union on Thursday to discuss ways to cooperate in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Foreign Ministry said that Kang and Josep Borrell, high representative of the EU for foreign affairs and security policy, held talks for about 30 minutes from 6 p.m. 

Kang said that South Korea is making diverse efforts to end the coronavirus crisis and that it will not let its guard down until the development of a vaccine and treatment. 

Borrell responded that although some countries are moving to ease their lockdown measures, there is a need to respond to the virus over the long term.

The two diplomats agreed on the need for international assistance for underdeveloped countries in their fight against the virus. They also agreed to explore ways for Seoul and the EU to play a constructive role in containing the virus.

The European External Action Service said that Borrell assessed South Korea's "successful" handling of the COVID-19 outbreak in the talks and that the two sides agreed on the need of strong multilateral responses to contain the spread of COVID-19, which is a global crisis.