President Yoon Suk Yeol received a group of United States Congress members to stress trilateral cooperation between Seoul, Washington and Tokyo, the presidential office announced Friday.
Yoon told the lawmakers that close cooperation based on common values shared by the three countries is key to overcoming complex global crises, while expressing appreciation for bipartisan US support for the Seoul-Washington alliance.
The US delegation led by Rep. John Moolenaar (R-Michigan) told Yoon that the bilateral relations between South Korea and the United States are "unprecedentedly stronger," calling for strengthening ties with US allies in the Indo-Pacific region to address North Korean threats and other global challenges, according to a statement from the presidential office. Moolenaar is chairman of the House Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party
The delegation included also Democratic Reps. Ro Khanna of California and Tom Suozzi of New York, as well as Republican Reps. Ben Cline of Virginia, Brian Babin of Texas and Barry Loudermilk of Georgia.
Before their visit to Seoul, the US delegation visited Japan to meet Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Wednesday.