Day: April 15, 2023

The United States and South Korea will continue to deepen their bilateral cooperation and alliance while jointly facing various regional and global challenges, including the threat posed by North Korea, U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Philip Goldberg said Friday.

The U.S. diplomat said President Joe Biden will also reaffirm strong U.S. commitment to the security and defense of South Korea when he holds a bilateral summit with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol later this month.

“On today’s theme — reinvigorating the U.S.-ROK alliance — the energy and enthusiasm for the U.S.-ROK alliance remains as high as ever,” Goldberg said, referring to South Korea by its official name, the Republic of Korea.

“The depth and breadth of our relationship is astounding. As we confront a host of global threats, the United States and the ROK will only deepen our ties and strengthen our resolve,” he added in prerecorded keynote remarks delivered at a seminar hosted by the Brookings Institution, a Washington-based think tank.

The South Korean president is set to make a state visit to the U.S. from April 24, two days before he and Biden will hold a bilateral summit.

Goldberg said the Yoon-Biden summit will once again highlight the strength of the U.S.-South Korea alliance that he said provided a “solid foundation” for the people of South Korea to flourish over the past 70 years since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.

“During the visit, President Biden and President Yoon will discuss how the U.S.-ROK alliance is critical to advance in peace, stability and prosperity for our two countries in the Indo-Pacific and the world,” he said.

“They will highlight the enduring strength of the ironclad U.S.-ROK alliance and the United States’ unwavering commitment to this country,” he added.

The U.S. ambassador said the leaders will also discuss ways to further strengthen their countries’ bilateral cooperation in areas such as economic security, supply chain resiliency and climate change.

“Another opportunity to advance our cooperation is through the ROK’s newly unveiled ambitious Indo-Pacific strategy, which called to strengthen solidarity with like minded partners and to promote shared values such as democracy, human rights and free economies,” said Goldberg.

“We fully support the ROK and expanding its global role and fulfilling its aspirations as a global pivotal state, which aligns with our own commitment to strengthen cooperation with Southeast Asian and Pacific Island countries,” he added.

Source: Yonhap News Agency

An oil tanker carrying one South Korean sailor on board was released after being hijacked by pirates in waters off West Africa earlier this week, Seoul’s foreign ministry said Saturday.

The 4,300-ton Singapore-registered tanker Success 9, carrying 20 crew members, including the Korean national, was hijacked by pirates in waters south of Ivory Coast at 11:00 p.m. on Monday (Korea time), according to the ministry.

The authorities got in contact with the South Korean crew member at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday and found that all the pirates fled after having stolen cargo and the crew’s personal belongings. All crew members remain safe, the ministry said.

After learning of the hijacking, the foreign ministry organized an internal team to find a way to rescue them. Foreign Minister Park Jin and Second Vice Foreign Minister Lee Do-hoon led a series of related meetings.

Source: Yonhap News Agency

South Korea and Canada will launch negotiations to craft a bilateral agreement on the protection of confidential information, a legal framework to expand the two countries’ arms industry cooperation, their top diplomats announced Saturday.

Foreign Minister Park Jin and his Canadian counterpart, Melanie Joly, made the announcement as they held talks in Seoul on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the establishment of bilateral ties, according to Seoul’s foreign ministry.

The two governments seek to create the agreement to stipulate procedures on the protection of military and defense industry information to be shared between the two sides.

The envisioned agreement will be separate from a bilateral General Security of Military Information Agreement signed in 1999, which limits the information-sharing agents to only the two countries’ governments.

“(Under the agreement), private companies will be able to participate in the bidding for government procurement projects requiring the sharing of confidential information,” the ministry said in a press release.

The two sides did not specify when the negotiations on the agreement will begin. They plan to create the official name of the agreement and work out other details during the negotiations, the ministry said.

During Saturday’s talks, Park stressed the importance of bilateral cooperation on the critical minerals needed for the production of batteries and semiconductors. The two ministers agreed to work closely together to sign a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in key minerals at an early date, according to the ministry.

Source: Yonhap News Agency

A South Korean presidential security official took note of the possibility Saturday that Seoul and Washington could expand the allies’ intelligence partnership to include Japan, a topic for the bilateral summit set for later this month.

Principal Deputy National Security Adviser Kim Tae-hyo made the remark upon arrival from Washington, where he discussed preparations for the planned White House summit between President Yoon Suk Yeol and his U.S. counterpart, Joe Biden, on April 26.

“The possibility is great, but it can be considered in a step-by-step manner or on a case-by-case basis,” Kim said at Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul, when asked if Japan can be included in the South Korea-U.S. “intelligence alliance.”

In answer to a question about whether the level of intelligence cooperation between the South and the United States can be elevated to that of the “Five Eyes” intelligence alliance, Kim said the bilateral partnership may “perhaps” be deeper than the five-way architecture consisting of the U.S., Britain, Australia, Canada and New Zealand

“We have been further solidifying that (bilateral) intelligence alliance,” he said. “And I think going forward, there will be discussions on which partner we would invite additionally to the South Korea-U.S. intelligence alliance.”

He said the upcoming summit will deal with various topics, including security, economy and people-to-people exchanges, as the two countries mark the 70th anniversary of the founding of their alliance this year.

“I think based on the outcomes of the alliance over the past 70 years, the summit will become a significant historical turning point that would write a new milestone for the future of the alliance,” he said.

Source: Yonhap News Agency

South Korea, the United States and Japan agreed to hold missile defense and anti-submarine drills regularly to counter growing North Korean threats during their senior-level defense talks in Washington earlier this week, Seoul’s defense ministry said Saturday.

They reached the agreement at a session of the Defense Trilateral Talks (DTT) on Friday (Washington time), amid tensions caused by Pyongyang’s recent weapons tests, including that of what it claims to be a solid-fuel Hwasong-18 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on Thursday.

“The representatives of the three countries decided to conduct missile defense and anti-submarine exercises on a regular basis to deter and respond to North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats, and had consultations on ways to resume trilateral training programs, including those for maritime interdiction and anti-piracy operations,” the ministry said in a press release.

South Korean Deputy Defense Minister for Policy Heo Tae-keun, U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs Ely Ratner and Japanese Director General for Defense Policy Kazuo Masuda led their respective delegations at the latest DTT session.

The DTT was previously held in 2020. It did not take place in 2021 and last year amid the COVID-19 pandemic and historical tensions between Seoul and Tokyo.

Source: Yonhap News Agency