Cho Tae-yeol to Hold Luncheon Meeting with US Secretary of State Blinken on the 18th

Blinken to Arrive on the 17th to Attend the Summit for Democracy

Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yeol will hold a luncheon meeting in Seoul on the 18th with U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blinken, who is visiting Korea next week to attend the Summit for Democracy.

At a regular briefing on the 14th, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lim Soo-seok stated, "This meeting will discuss ways to cooperate on democracy between the two countries, which share values such as freedom, human rights, and the rule of law, measures to strengthen the Korea-U.S. alliance, as well as mutual common interests including the situation on the Korean Peninsula and global affairs." The Ministry of Foreign Affairs explained that due to Secretary Blinken’s schedule, the meeting was agreed upon as a luncheon meeting between the two countries.

Following the Korea-U.S.-Japan foreign ministers’ meeting held last month on the sidelines of the G20 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Brazil, Secretary Blinken will meet face-to-face with Minister Cho three times within about a month, including the Korea-U.S. foreign ministers’ meeting in Washington D.C. and this visit to Korea.

Secretary Blinken will also attend the ministerial meeting of the 3rd Summit for Democracy held in Seoul on the 18th.

Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yeol (second from right) holds a foreign ministers' meeting with Secretary of State Antony Blinken (left) at the U.S. Department of State building in Washington on the 28th of last month (local time).
[Image source=Yonhap News]

Secretary Blinken is scheduled to arrive in Korea via Osan Air Base on the 17th, the day before the opening of the Summit for Democracy, and is expected to leave Korea on the 18th to head to the Philippines.

According to foreign media, Secretary Blinken will hold a U.S.-Philippines meeting and a trilateral foreign ministers’ meeting between the U.S., Japan, and the Philippines in the Philippines. These meetings are expected to address the issue of territorial disputes in the South China Sea involving China.

Attention is also focused on whether Secretary Blinken will request a clearer stance from Korea on the South China Sea issue during his visit to Korea, his previous destination. Regarding this, a Foreign Ministry official said, "We are still coordinating the agenda (between Korea and the U.S.), so it is not appropriate to make any premature assumptions," and refrained from further comment.

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