Rubio, Cho agree to maintain close coordination on N. Korean nuclear issue, Seoul says

South Korean and US top diplomats have agreed to hold their first meeting in Washington “at the earliest mutually convenient date,” amid mounting concerns in Seoul over the Trump administration’s stance on North Korea’s denuclearization -- intensified by Trump’s description of the regime as a “nuclear power.”
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has invited South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul to Washington for a ministerial meeting aimed at strengthening cooperation between the allies.
The invitation came during their first-ever phone call Thursday morning in Seoul — less than 24 hours after Rubio was sworn in as secretary of state, South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said.
“Secretary Rubio invited Minister Cho to visit the US to discuss concrete measures to strengthen cooperation between Korea and the US,” according to the Foreign Ministry in Seoul. "Both sides agreed to coordinate specific schedules to hold a South Korea-US foreign ministerial meeting in Washington at the earliest mutually convenient date."
The Korea Herald has learned from a diplomatic source with knowledge of the matter that Cho’s visit to Washington is likely to take place in February.
A Foreign Ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity, stated that Cho and Rubio are "expected to engage in in-depth discussions on North Korea and its nuclear issues" during their first meeting.
Seoul's Foreign Ministry shared that Cho and Rubio "agreed to maintain close coordination on the North Korean nuclear issue."
“Both ministers committed to further developing trilateral cooperation among South Korea, the US and Japan, which was deemed important during the first Trump administration, and to continuing discussions," Seoul added.
In the phone call, the ministry said Cho further "underscored the importance of close communication between Korea and the US, including a call between the acting president and President Trump" — a conversation that has yet to occur.
Rubio agreed on the importance of maintaining close communication and affirmed his commitment to making every necessary effort, according to Seoul.
Cho also emphasized the stability of state affairs under the acting president system and the consistency of Korea's foreign and security policy grounded in the Korea-US alliance.
The US shared the outcome of the phone call, but it made no direct mention of North Korea and potential Cho-Rubio talks.
Cho and Rubio “discussed advancing US-ROK cooperation to address common challenges in the Indo-Pacific region,” State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said, referring to South Korea's official name, the Republic of Korea. “The two also underscored the critical importance of furthering trilateral cooperation among the United States, Japan, and the ROK."

The first Cho-Rubio meeting comes as Seoul closely monitors the Trump administration's stance on upholding the international community’s longstanding commitment to North Korea's complete denuclearization.
Concerns have been mounting in Seoul after Trump referred to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un as a “nuclear power” during a press availability after his inauguration Monday.
Pete Hegseth, Trump’s nominee for Pentagon chief, used similar language in a written statement for his confirmation hearing on Jan. 13, also describing North Korea as a “nuclear power.”
The term “nuclear power” does not equate to “nuclear-weapon state,” which specifically refers to the five recognized nuclear-armed countries under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. However, some interpret it as implicitly acknowledging North Korea as a nuclear-weapon state or giving that impression.
At his Jan. 14 confirmation hearing, Rubio also stressed “there has to be an appetite for a very serious look at broader North Korean policies,” nodding to the challenging nature of achieving denuclearization.
Rubio emphasized the need for a policy shift that stabilizes the overall situation and “lowers the risk of an inadvertent war," noting that Kim Jong-un has relied on nuclear weapons as “his insurance policy to stay in power.”
The omission of "commitment to the complete denuclearization of North Korea" in the first statement from the Quad's four foreign ministers under the second Trump administration on Tuesday drew significant attention in Seoul.
The phrase had been included in previous Quad foreign ministers’ statements, such as those from July 2024 in Tokyo, March 2023 in New Delhi and February 2022 in Melbourne as well as in leaders' statements from the 2022 Tokyo, 2023 Hiroshima, Japan, and 2024 Wilmington, Delaware, summits, among others.
In response, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lee Jae-woong said Thursday that the latest Quad ministers’ meeting, held on the occasion of Trump’s inauguration, differed from previous ones while declining to comment on the omission.
“Unlike past joint statements, it briefly reaffirms the existing principles of Quad cooperation and does not mention issues related to North Korea or any other country,” Lee said.