Yoon "Korea-US Alliance Continues to Develop"... Harris "Core Pillar of Security and Prosperity"

Vice President Harris Visits Yongsan Presidential Office to Meet President Yoon... "Biden Asks to Send Personal Regards to Yoon"

President Yoon Suk-yeol met with U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris on the morning of the 29th at the Yongsan Presidential Office Building in Seoul. /

[Asia Economy Reporter Baek Kyunghwan] President Yoon Suk-yeol stated on the 29th to U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris that "we intend to continue developing the ROK-U.S. alliance as a strong pillar protecting the freedom, safety, and prosperity of our people." Vice President Harris emphasized, "For 70 years, the ROK-U.S. alliance has been a core axis of security and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula, in the Indo-Pacific region, and globally."

President Yoon met with Vice President Harris at the Yongsan Presidential Office that morning and said, "I have met several times with President Biden, including last week in London and New York, and we reached a consensus on the direction of our alliance's development." This visit marks the first time in four years and six months that a sitting U.S. vice president has visited Korea since Vice President Mike Pence's visit during the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in February 2018.

At the meeting, President Yoon welcomed her again, saying, "The ROK-U.S. alliance is evolving beyond the Korean Peninsula into a global alliance, expanding from a military alliance to an economic and technological alliance." He added, "I intend to continue developing the ROK-U.S. alliance as a strong pillar protecting the freedom, safety, and prosperity of our people," and expressed hope that "following President Biden's visit, Vice President Harris's visit today will serve as another turning point for this purpose."

Vice President Harris responded, "Thank you. It is a great honor to be here in Seoul," and noted, "My husband had the honor of leading a delegation to attend the inauguration in May." She also said, "Before my visit, President Biden personally asked me to convey his regards," and mentioned, "He also said that this year has been a very productive visit to Korea."

On the U.S. side, Philip Goldberg, U.S. Ambassador to Korea; Philip Gordon, Vice President's National Security Advisor; Lorraine Rolls, Vice President's Chief of Staff; Rebecca Lissner, Vice President's Deputy National Security Advisor; and Edgard Keenan, Senior Director for East Asia and Oceania at the NSC (National Security Council) accompanied the vice president. On the Korean side, Foreign Minister Park Jin, National Security Office Director Kim Sung-han, Ambassador to the U.S. Cho Tae-yong, First Deputy Director of the National Security Office Kim Tae-hyo, Senior Secretary for Public Relations Kim Eun-hye, and Senior Secretary for Economic Affairs Choi Sang-mok attended.

During the subsequent private meeting, it is highly likely that concerns about discrimination against Korean-made electric vehicles under the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), as well as North Korea's nuclear issues and other Korean Peninsula matters, were primarily discussed. On his way to work that day, President Yoon mentioned Vice President Harris's visit to reporters, saying, "It is difficult to have long, private talks in multilateral meetings. So this time, we plan to share the discussions that were lacking." Earlier, during his trips to the UK and the U.S., President Yoon met with King Charles III of the UK at a reception, attended the 7th replenishment conference of the Global Fund, and met with President Joe Biden and the First Lady at a reception, where they discussed the IRA, financial stabilization cooperation, and extended deterrence.

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