By Kim Hyo-jin

President Park Geun-hye pledged Tuesday to spend $100 million over five years from 2016 to help 13 countries fight against infectious diseases.

“Many countries and international organizations have already provided financial support for some countries vulnerable to infectious diseases. South Korea will join such a global effort,” Park said in a welcoming dinner for delegates of the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA).

The 13 countries are Ghana, Ethiopia, Jordan, Cambodia, Laos, Uzbekistan, Peru, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Liberia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ivory Coast and Mali.

“South Korea will make its utmost effort to free people in those countries from the threat of infectious diseases,” she said.

Park vowed to support the core value of the GHSA, a global health conference.

The meeting, launched last year in partnership with the World Health Organization, is aimed at setting the agenda for global health security and establishing a cooperative system to fight infectious diseases.

South Korea and the United States are among the 44 members of the GHSA.

The first meeting was held in Washington D.C. last year, and the second is being held in Seoul from Sept. 7 to 9.

Park stressed the importance of establishing a systematic response system against infectious diseases.

“South Korea also had difficulty in combating Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) this year,” she said. “To fight against unexpected outbreaks of infectious diseases, we need well-established preventive systems in which the government, experts and civil society can work together.”