Cho Tae-yeol "Preparing North Korea Nuclear Roadmap... Proactive Preparation for North Korea-US Negotiations"

Joint Foreign and Ministry of Economy and Finance Ministers' Press Conference with Foreign Media

Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yeol stated on the 18th regarding the North Korean nuclear issue, "Before the inauguration of the new U.S. administration, we will prepare our response plans and roadmap to proactively prepare for the possibility of North Korea-U.S. negotiations."

Yonhap News

Minister Cho made these remarks during opening comments at a joint foreign press briefing held by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Strategy and Finance at the Press Center in Jung-gu that morning. Despite domestic political turmoil, this indicates that preparations are being made with the possibility in mind that Donald Trump, who will take office in January next year, may engage in dialogue with North Korea. The press briefing was arranged to minimize economic and diplomatic repercussions amid the emergency martial law and the presidential impeachment crisis.

Minister Cho emphasized, "Even under the acting presidential authority system, the existing diplomatic policy stance to fulfill roles and responsibilities befitting our national power and status will remain unchanged," and added, "We will devote all efforts to normalize our diplomacy as soon as possible and restore the trust of the international community."

Specifically, he said efforts will be made to maintain the ROK-U.S. alliance and the friendly cooperative relationship with Japan, and to actively ensure the momentum of trilateral cooperation among the ROK, U.S., and Japan continues. He also stated, "We intend to maintain close communication to manage and further develop our relationship with China in a stable manner." Furthermore, he said, "We will promptly restore the Republic of Korea's international status and trust on multilateral stages," and "We will mobilize all available resources to thoroughly prepare for the successful hosting of next year's APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) summit."

Quoting French political thinker Alexis de Tocqueville, he said, "Democracy is a system that always has the power to correct itself," and added, "I am confident that through this opportunity, the democracy of the Republic of Korea will grow one step further."

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