President Park Geun-hye on Thursday held summit talks with the Visegrad Group countries in Prague and sought ways for Korea to make advancements into the middle European countries’ large infrastructure market.

The Visegrad Group, also known as the Visegrad Four or V4, comprises the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. They boast high incomes and steady economic growth, with the group combined ranking as the fifth-largest economy in Europe and 12th in the world. All four nations have actively pursued the expansion of their nuclear power industry.

At the talks, Park pitched Korea’s nuclear power and construction capabilities and discussed ways for the V4 countries’ basic science skills to be combined with Seoul’s applied science technology to promote joint research and development projects. They also exchanged views on sales of Korean-made weapons there.

After the group summit, Park held separate talks with Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydlo, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico, respectively, and discussed ways to expand Korean companies’ participation in each country’s new infrastructure and nuclear power projects. The V4 nations are reportedly planning to make large-scale infrastructure investments, such as subways and communications network, by using the European Fund for Strategic Investments that is being created by the European Union at a size of over 300 billion euros ($318 billion).

On the diplomatic front, Park urged the countries to support Seoul’s push for peaceful reunification with North Korea and hailed the countries’ successful transformation from socialist to market economies.

Earlier on Wednesday, Park attended a forum in Prague after holding summit talks with Czech counterpart Milos Zeman. The forum drew about 250 business leaders from both sides and called for bilateral cooperation in energy and health care. Park later watched a Czech puppet show that featured a South Korean traditional story at a national theater in Prague.

“I hope that creators of both countries meet and produce better cultural contents and people of both countries share their minds through culture,” Park said.

From news reports (khnews.heraldcorp.com)