The first bilateral talks to implement the security agreements reached by the leaders of South Korea and the United States — covering nuclear-powered submarines, expanded nuclear cooperation and related defense issues — will kick off June 2–3 in Seoul.
The Foreign Ministry said on the 29th that Seoul and Washington will hold a launch meeting in Seoul on June 2–3 to begin follow-up security work under the Joint Fact Sheet from the leaders’ summit. A whole-of-government South Korean delegation led by First Vice Foreign Minister Park Yoon-ju will attend, including representatives from the Blue House National Security Office, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of National Defense, the Ministry of Climate and Energy, the Ministry of Science and ICT, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, and the Nuclear Safety Commission.
The U.S. delegation will be led by State Department Deputy Secretary Allison Hooker and include officials from the White House National Security Council, the State Department, the Department of Energy and the Department of Defense.
The State Department also announced that Deputy Secretary Hooker will head a whole-of-government U.S. delegation to South Korea from June 1–3 to push forward the nuclear cooperation framework agreed at last October’s summit.
At the launch meeting, delegates are expected to address key security items from the leaders’ October agreement: construction of nuclear-powered submarines, securing authority for uranium enrichment and spent fuel reprocessing, and cooperation on shipbuilding.
Seoul officials said they have been coordinating closely with U.S. working-level counterparts to ensure the launch meeting can produce substantive progress.
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