The foreign ministry said Wednesday it hosted a videoconference with countries in the Asia-Pacific region to discuss ways to increase contributions to the United Nations peacebuilding efforts amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The session, headed by Chung Byung-ha, director general for international organizations at Seoul's foreign ministry, focused on how to better contribute as Asia-Pacific nations to promoting the UN Peacebuilding Architecture, a regime aimed at better responding to countries in violent conflict and preventing such conflict from recurring, the ministry said in a release.

Officials from 14 countries, including Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, China and Japan, as well as those from related UN offices and experts from think tanks took part in the virtual meeting, it added.

In the talks, Chung said that while the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted existing UN peacekeeping operations, it has also served to "spur fresh discussions and activities in terms of addressing challenges like infectious diseases, poverty and climate change at a whole new level."

He thus called for broad considerations for democratic and transparent governance that understands regional characteristics and guarantees civil participation, the ministry said.

South Korea has been actively involved in the UN peacebuilding initiative, serving as a member of the UN

Peacebuilding Commission, a intergovernmental consultative body that advises the UN Security Council and General Assembly. (Yonhap)