High-Level US-Korea Reciprocal Visits... Deputy Defense Minister: "Concrete Expansion Deterrence"

[Asia Economy reporters Inho Yoo and military specialist Nakgyu Yang] Senior officials from South Korea and the United States will seek solutions to the discrimination against Korean electric vehicles under the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and ways to deter North Korea’s nuclear threat through reciprocal visits.

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the 14th, Cho Hyun-dong, First Vice Foreign Minister, departed for Washington DC this morning to attend the “Korea-U.S. High-Level Foreign and Defense Expanded Deterrence Strategy Consultation Group (EDSCG) 2+2 Meeting.”

On the 16th (local time), Vice Minister Cho will hold the EDSCG meeting at the U.S. State Department to discuss measures to deter North Korea’s nuclear threat. The EDSCG is a “2+2 consultative body” between the foreign and defense vice ministers of South Korea and the U.S. to discuss extended deterrence, and this meeting is the first in 4 years and 8 months since January 2018.

From the Korean side, Vice Minister Cho and Defense Vice Minister Shin Beom-cheol will attend, while from the U.S. side, Bonnie Jenkins, Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, and Colin Kahl, Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, will participate.

Vice Minister Shin told reporters at Dulles Airport near Washington DC that the purpose of this meeting is “to determine what measures can be taken in the event of North Korea’s nuclear test to reassure the public and to ensure that the U.S. extended deterrence can actually function effectively.”

During his visit to the U.S., Vice Minister Shin plans to visit the U.S. Missile Defense Agency and Cyber Command, and directly observe strategic assets at Andrews Air Force Base. This means he will inspect not only the U.S. missile defense (MD) capabilities against North Korean missile and cyber attacks but also key strategic assets firsthand.

Additionally, Vice Minister Cho will hold a separate bilateral meeting with Wendy Sherman, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State, during this visit. Since the Inflation Reduction Act issue is affecting Korea-U.S. relations, it is expected to be an important topic in this meeting as well.

Lee Do-hoon, Second Vice Foreign Minister who directly handles economic diplomacy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, will depart for the U.S. next week to discuss the Inflation Reduction Act issue. Visiting New York and Washington DC, Vice Minister Lee will meet with Jose Fernandez, U.S. Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment, to discuss this issue in depth. Both Vice Minister Lee and Under Secretary Fernandez serve as chief representatives of the Korea-U.S. Senior Economic Dialogue (SED), a high-level channel for discussing bilateral economic cooperation issues, allowing for thorough discussions on the Inflation Reduction Act.

On the U.S. side, senior officials are also expected to visit South Korea around the same time to discuss the discrimination against Korean electric vehicles under the Inflation Reduction Act. Larry Hogan, a Republican presidential hopeful and Governor of Maryland, who arrived in Korea on the 13th, is expected to meet with Foreign Minister Park Jin on the 15th during the Jeju Forum keynote speech to discuss the discrimination issue against Korean electric vehicles under the Inflation Reduction Act.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.