South Korean and U.S. foreign ministers keep a close eye on Russia’s possible military support for North Korea: Korea Today News

[코리아투데이뉴스] The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on the 15th that Minister Cho Tae-yeol held a series of foreign ministerial meetings with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya in Lima, Peru, where the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Ministerial Meeting is being held on the 14th.

First, at the ROK-US Foreign Ministers’ meeting, opinions were exchanged on ROK-US relations, Korea-US-Japan cooperation, North Korea issues, and major regional situations.

Minister Cho and Minister Blinken expressed concern that illegal military cooperation with Russia and North Korea is a serious threat to the security of Europe and the Pacific region. In particular, they closely cooperated while keeping a close eye on the possibility of Russia’s military support to North Korea in return for sending North Korean troops. We decided to respond.

Ahead of the Korea-U.S.-Japan summit, the two ministers highly praised the numerous achievements made by the three countries in various fields such as security, economy, and technology, while agreeing to cooperate to successfully resolve any remaining issues between Korea and the U.S.

Secretary Blinken emphasized that bipartisan support in the U.S. for the ROK-U.S. alliance is strong, and announced that he will work closely with Korea to ensure that the major results of cooperation between Korea and the U.S. so far are successfully passed on to the next U.S. administration.

Minister Cho explained that he was making every effort to successfully host the 5th Intergovernmental Negotiation Conference on the United Nations Plastics Convention to be held in Busan, and suggested that Korea and the United States jointly lead related discussions in the international community as they have done so far.

This meeting, held again two weeks after the ROK-US Foreign Ministers’ Meeting held in Washington DC last month, is seen as an opportunity to discuss ways to cooperate between Korea and the US on major issues ahead of the Korea-US-Japan summit and the APEC summit.

Subsequently, at the Korea-Japan Foreign Ministers’ meeting, opinions were exchanged on Korea-Japan relations and North Korea and nuclear weapons issues.

The two ministers highly praised the speedy holding of the first foreign ministers’ meeting since the inauguration of Japan’s new cabinet, and agreed to communicate frequently and cooperate closely to advance the relationship between the two countries as heads of diplomacy.

In particular, ahead of the 60th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations next year, it was decided to materialize various commemorative projects that the people of both countries can experience through close consultation between the preparation task forces of the two countries.

They also agreed to wisely manage bilateral issues between Korea and Japan and strive to take the relationship between the two countries to the next level.

In addition, they shared the view that North Korea’s recent deployment of troops to Russia is a serious threat to peace and security on the Korean Peninsula and around the world, and agreed that Korea-Japan and Korea-U.S.-Japan should closely cooperate on Russia-North Korea military cooperation and North Korea-North Korea nuclear issues.