Yoon Meets with US Senators, Expresses Gratitude for Their Full and Bipartisan Support (Comprehensive)

Meeting with US Senators to Discuss ROK-US Alliance and Ukraine
Cooperation with NATO through ITPP Agreement... Focus on Science and Cyber Defense

President Yoon Suk-yeol, who is visiting Vilnius, Lithuania to attend the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit, held his first schedule on the 11th (local time) by meeting with a delegation of U.S. senators to engage in broad discussions on the Korea-U.S. alliance and the Ukraine issue. The first meeting of the Korea-U.S. Nuclear Consultative Group (NCG), agreed upon by the Korea-U.S. leaders in the 'Washington Declaration,' is scheduled for the 18th, and arrangements are being made for President Yoon's additional visit to Washington, signaling an even closer relationship between the two countries.

On the morning of the same day, President Yoon met with the U.S. Senate delegation at a hotel in downtown Vilnius. Attending from the Korean side were Foreign Minister Park Jin, National Security Office Director Cho Tae-yong, First Deputy Director of the National Security Office Kim Tae-hyo, and Chief Presidential Secretary for Economic Affairs Choi Sang-mok. From the U.S. side were Senator Angus King (Independent), Senator Dick Durbin (Democrat), Senator Jeanne Shaheen (Democrat, Co-chair of the U.S. Senate NATO Observer Group), Senator Thom Tillis (Republican, Co-chair of the U.S. Senate NATO Observer Group), Senator Dan Sullivan (Republican), and Senator Pete Ricketts (Republican).

President Yoon Suk-yeol, visiting Lithuania to attend the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit, is speaking during a meeting with U.S. senators at a hotel in Vilnius on the 11th (local time).
[Photo by Yonhap News]

At the meeting, President Yoon expressed his gratitude to each senator for their full and bipartisan support of the Korea-U.S. alliance shown during his joint address to the U.S. Congress in April. He also stated that the meeting with the U.S. Senate delegation on the occasion of the NATO summit demonstrates that the Korea-U.S. alliance is evolving into a true 'global comprehensive strategic alliance,' expanding the stage of the alliance.

He also emphasized the significance of attending the NATO summit for two consecutive years. President Yoon noted that following the establishment of the Korean Mission to NATO last year, Korea has dramatically strengthened cooperation with NATO by signing the Korea-NATO Individual Tailored Partnership Program (ITPP) this time. Regarding the main agenda of the NATO summit, the war in Ukraine, he explained Korea's current support for Ukraine and discussed cooperation measures between Korea and the U.S. for Ukraine's peace restoration and reconstruction.

In response, Senator Jeanne Shaheen, co-chair of the NATO Observer Group, evaluated that President Yoon's state visit to the U.S. was an important opportunity to reaffirm the significance of the Korea-U.S. alliance not only to the U.S. administration and Congress but also to the American people. She emphasized, "The bipartisan support of the U.S. Congress for the Korea-U.S. alliance will remain unwavering."

Meanwhile, President Yoon held a meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on the same day and signed the 'ITPP,' covering 11 areas including cyber and counterterrorism. Since joining NATO as a partner country in 2006, Korea has jointly responded to international security threats, and through this bilateral cooperation, it is expected that security cooperation levels between the Atlantic and Indo-Pacific regions will be further elevated.

The ITPP signed between Korea and NATO includes a total of 11 areas such as science and technology, counterterrorism, cyber defense, and emerging science technologies. NATO has been promoting this as part of upgrading the 'Individual Partnership Cooperation Program' (IPCP) with the AP4 countries (four major Asia-Pacific partners: Korea, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand) to a new framework called the 'Individual Tailored Partnership Program.' It is known that Japan and Australia have already completed negotiations.

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