South Korean Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong will head to France later Monday to participate in a forum designed to promote cooperation among countries from the Indo-Pacific region.

The Indo Pacific Ministerial Forum 2022 will be hosted by France, the current chair of the Council of the European Union. It has invited ministers and other senior representatives from 56 nations for the forum slated for Tuesday (local time) to address challenges in security, economy, health and climate change in the region.

Chung plans to brief other participants on Seoul's efforts to promote peace on the Korean Peninsula and beyond, and discuss ways to forge closer ties with major partners in the region, the foreign ministry said.

He will have a series of bilateral meetings with his counterparts from Sweden, Greece, Bulgaria, Romania and India on the sidelines of the event, it added.

On Tuesday, Chung is also scheduled to meet with Audrey Azoulay, director general of UNESCO, to discuss pending issues, including Japan's controversial bid for the listing of the Sado mine, associated with its wartime forced labor against Koreans, as a 2023 UNESCO world heritage site, according to Seoul officials. (Yonhap)