Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se will hold talks with his U.S. counterpart, John Kerry, in Alaska at the end of this month to discuss security conditions on the Korean Peninsula following a landmark inter-Korean deal, an official said Wednesday.
Yun and Kerry have agreed to meet each other on the sidelines of the two-day Conference on Global Leadership in the Arctic to open on Sunday in Anchorage, the Foreign Ministry official told reporters on the condition of anonymity.
Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se (Yonhap)
"(The two sides) are in consultations over a specific schedule," he said, adding that it would be the third round of talks between Yun and Kerry this year.
Agenda items include security cooperation after the tension-easing agreement between the two Koreas, President Park Geun-hye's plan to visit Washington in October, and other pending alliance issues, according to the official.
"The main purpose is to consult on ways to strengthen the South Korea-U.S. global partnership and comprehensive strategic alliance," he said.
The latest military crisis on the peninsula highlighted the importance of the South Korea-U.S. alliance. South and North Korea managed to avoid an armed clash with the dramatic agreement reached Tuesday in high-level negotiations.
The North expressed "regret" over the Aug. 4 land mine blast that wounded two South Korean soldiers. The South, in return, halted anti-Pyongyang loudspeaker broadcasts along the border.
The South Korean president, Park, plans to travel to Beijing early next month to attend a World War II anniversary event despite Washington's reportedly negative view of such a trip.
"The upcoming talks (between Yun and Kerry) are meaningful as an opportunity to further bolster South Korea-U.S. coordination, which is a basic framework to push for a strategic roadmap of our diplomacy in the latter half (of this year)," the official said.
Yun is also scheduled to make a rare visit to the headquarters of the Pacific Command in Hawaii on his way back to Seoul.
Meanwhile, he would become the first top diplomat of South Korea to join an international meeting on the Arctic.
In the conference, the minister will deliver a speech on South Korea's policy on the Arctic and its commitment to making contributions to the global fight against climate change, another ministry official said. (Yonhap)
