On November 1 (local time), President Moon Jae-in gave a keynote address at the 26th United Nations (UN) Climate Change Conference (COP26) and suggested inter-Korean cooperation in forest restoration. North Korean government officials were on site and listened to the president’s speech until the end. However, President Moon was not able to meet with the North Korean officials.

This day, President Moon gave a keynote speech at the Scottish Event Campus (SEC) in Glasgow, where the COP 26 summit is taking place. The president said, “Cooperation in forest restoration is a way to promote peace in the border area,” and added that the two Koreas could reduce greenhouse gases on the Korean Peninsula through cooperation in forest restoration. President Moon has emphasized peace on the Korean Peninsula whenever he had the opportunity during his tour of Europe, which began on October 28. His speech this day seems to be an extension of these efforts. President Moon suggested inter-Korean cooperation in restoring forests for the first time in over fourteen months, since his congratulatory message on National Liberation Day 2020.

Two North Korean government officials including Choe Il, the North Korean ambassador to the United Kingdom listened to President Moon’s speech in the conference room. Ambassador Choe was once blocked from entering the venue because he did not have his pass. He sat in a seat reserved for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). President Moon passed by the place where the North Korean representatives were seated on two occasions while heading toward the stage to give his speech, but the men did not exchange greetings or engage in a conversation. When a Newsis reporter on site asked Ambassador Choe about the possibility of any contact with government officials from South Korea or the United States, the North Korean ambassador simply answered, “No comment.”

North Korea has constantly attended international conferences on the climate crisis. North Korea joined the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change enforced in 1994; the Kyoto Protocol, which entered into force in 2005; and the 2016 Paris Agreement. In an expanded meeting of the Politburo of the Workers’ Party of Korea in September, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said, “Catastrophic climate phenomena are becoming severer throughout the world, and our country is also facing such dangers,” and stressed the importance of preparations to prevent damage from floods and droughts. However, for the two Koreas to cooperate in restoring forests as President Moon proposed, the spread of COVID-19 has to be contained, and North Korea’s relations with the U.S. as well as the South will need to improve first.