NEW YORK -- South Korean President Moon Jae-in and his Czech counterpart, Milos Zeman, agreed Tuesday to strengthen their countries' strategic partnership while also expanding their cooperation to new areas, including bio, artificial intelligence and information, and communications technology.

In a bilateral summit on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, Moon also asked the Czech president to help make the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in South Korea's PyeongChang a success.

"President Moon asked for active support and cooperation of Czech, a powerhouse of winter sports, and expressed hope many Czech people will visit South Korea for the Winter Olympic Games," Seoul's presidential office, Cheong Wa Dae, said in a press release.

Zeman expressed hope the upcoming sporting event will be a chance to further improve the countries' friendship, according to Cheong Wa Dae.

He also offered to personally take part in the opening ceremony of the PyeongChang Olympic Games if formally invited, according to Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Park Soo-hyun.
 

President Moon said his country will soon send an official invitation for his Czech counterpart to visit South Korea during the games, set to start Feb. 9.

"In addition, the two leaders agreed to further develop the countries' cooperative partnership that would include expanding their mutually beneficial cooperation to create future growth engines in bio, artificial intelligence and ICT sectors," it said.

The South Korean president also asked for the republic's support in dealing with provocative North Korea, stressing the need to fundamentally and peacefully resolve the North Korean nuclear issue.

North Korea staged its sixth and apparently most powerful nuclear test so far on Sept. 3.

The Czech president reaffirmed his country's support for Seoul's efforts to denuclearize the North and said his country will actively play its necessary role in the international arena, including the European Union, Cheong Wa Dae said.

He also agreed on the need to resolve the North Korean nuclear issue peacefully, noting a military action would result in the loss of many innocent lives, according to the Cheong Wa Dae spokesman. (Yonhap)