WASHINGTON -- A group of US lawmakers on Tuesday voiced support for the South Korea-US alliance in the wake of recent efforts to denuclearize North Korea through dialogue, Seoul's foreign ministry said.
Members of the Congressional Study Group of Korea, including its co-chair, Rep. Ami Bera (D-CA), met with South Korean First Vice Foreign Minister Lim Sung-nam to discuss recent developments on the Korean Peninsula.
Lim is the first high-ranking Seoul official to visit Washington since US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un held a historic summit in Singapore last week.
South Korean First Vice Foreign Minister Lim Sung-nam. (Yonhap)
Lim thanked the lawmakers for their contributions to strengthening the bilateral alliance and toward a peaceful solution to the North Korean nuclear threat, according to the ministry.
He especially called on them to actively pursue congressional discussions for denuclearization and the establishment of a permanent peace regime on the Korean Peninsula.
"The lawmakers, in one voice, reaffirmed their firm support for the South Korea-US alliance, expressed their hope that the current dialogue momentum created through the inter-Korean and North Korea-US summits will lead to denuclearization and peace on the Korean Peninsula, and pledged an even more enthusiastic role and support in that process," the ministry said in a press release.
The other congressmen in attendance were Reps. Joe Wilson (R-SC), John Faso (R-NY) and Delegate Gregorio Sablan (Ind-MP). (Yonhap)