Washington: South Korea's First Vice Foreign Minister Park Yoon-joo has engaged in discussions with a U.S. lawmaker and a leading policy expert to strengthen the bilateral alliance and address issues on the Korean Peninsula, as announced by Seoul's foreign ministry.
According to Yonhap News Agency, during his four-day visit to Washington, which started on Monday, Park Yoon-joo held separate meetings with Representative Young Kim, chair of the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on East Asia and the Pacific, and John Walters, president of the Hudson Institute. These discussions were aimed at ensuring the effective implementation of the agreements made in the joint fact sheet released in November, following the summit between President Lee Jae Myung and U.S. President Donald Trump.
Park emphasized the close cooperation between South Korea and the United States in maximizing shared interests and prosperity. He highlighted the progress toward implementing the agreement on $350 billion worth of investments in the U.S. and stressed the importance of U.S. congressional and policy support for bilateral security agreements, including those related to nuclear energy and shipbuilding.
During the discussions, Walters underscored the necessity of deepening strategic cooperation with reliable allies like South Korea. He assured continued support from the Hudson Institute for the smooth implementation of the joint fact sheet and future bilateral cooperation efforts.
In her remarks, Representative Kim acknowledged the expansion of the bilateral alliance beyond the security sector into economic and technological domains. She advocated for ongoing communication to ensure the implementation of the agreements outlined in the joint fact sheet.
While in Washington, Park also met with Allison Hooker, the U.S. under secretary of state for political affairs. They announced that Hooker will soon lead a U.S. interagency delegation to Seoul to initiate bilateral working groups focused on implementing the security aspects of the joint fact sheet.
On Wednesday, Park further engaged in talks with U.S. Under Secretary of Defense Elbridge Colby and Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau to discuss a range of mutual interests, as reported by the ministry.