Foreign Minister Cho Hyun departed for the United States on Thursday to attend a Group of 20 foeign ministers' meeting and hold talks with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on key bilateral issues, officials said.
Cho is scheduled to visit Atlanta through Monday to attend the two-day G20 gathering, where participating countries will discuss ways to jointly address geopolitical crises, energy and food security, supply chains, and other global challenges, according to Seoul's foreign ministry.
South Korea is set to assume the G20 presidency in 2028 and plans to work with member countries to ensure continuity in discussions on global issues, ministry officials added.
During his visit, Cho is also expected to meet with Rubio to discuss developments on the Korean Peninsula, including North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's recent visit to China and the prospects for renewed dialogue between Pyongyang and Washington, as well as pending bilateral issues.
Kim visited the Chinese border city of Dandong on Saturday amid efforts by Pyongyang and Beijing to deepen ties. Cho has said the two countries may have discussed resuming dialogue between North Korea and the U.S. during Kim's visit.
Trump has expressed interest in resuming dialogue with Kim, prompting speculation that they may meet during Trump's visit to Asia for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Shenzhen next month.
The anticipated meeting between Cho and Rubio also comes as Seoul and Washington face differences over a range of economic and security issues, including the implementation of agreements reached at their summit last year, intelligence sharing on North Korea and Seoul's push to retake wartime operational control (OPCON) from Washington.
South Korea is seeking to accelerate follow-up consultations with Washington on key security issues covered by last year's summit agreements, including nuclear-powered submarines, uranium enrichment and spent fuel reprocessing.
Visa-related issues involving two ruling Democratic Party lawmakers could also be on the agenda.
Earlier this month, Rep. Jung Chung-rae's US visa application remained under review ahead of a planned parliamentary audit of South Korean diplomatic missions in the Americas.
Rep. Jin Sung-joon said Wednesday his US visa application had been rejected ahead of a planned visit to the US Indo-Pacific Command in Hawaii early next month.
"The visa issue has nothing to do with South Korea-US relations," Cho told reporters at Incheon International Airport before departing for the US.
Calling the refusal or delay of US visas "undesirable," Cho said he planned to ask Washington to expedite visa issuance for lawmakers. (Yonhap)
