[정치]U.S. state affairs and defense visit Korea today…to release a joint statement tomorrow

[앵커]

Following his visit to Japan, the US Secretary of State and Defense will visit Korea this afternoon and hold a meeting with our ministers respectively.

Tomorrow, the two countries’ diplomatic and defense ministers are scheduled to hold a 2+2 meeting and adopt a joint statement. It will be noted how important issues such as coordination of North Korea policy, strengthening cooperation between the United States and South Korea, and China’s checks will be dealt with.

This is reporter Kim Do-won.

[기자]

US Secretary of State Blincoln and US Secretary of Defense Austin, who are on their first overseas tour after taking office, are coming to Korea this afternoon.

The simultaneous visit of the US Secretary of State and Defense has been 11 years since 2010.

The two ministers will hold meetings with Foreign Minister Eui-yong Eui and Defense Minister Seo-wook, respectively, as their first official schedule.

In addition, tomorrow morning, the ‘2+2’ meeting will be held in which the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Defense of both countries sit in one seat.

The Korea-US 2+2 conference has not been held during the Trump administration since it was held in Washington in 2016.

[최영삼 / 외교부 대변인 : 5년 만에 외교·국방, 2+2 회담이 개최되는 것은 한미 동맹을 중시하는 바이든 정부의 강력한 의지가 반영되었다고 평가합니다.]

At the 2+2 meeting, the ministers of both countries will adopt a joint statement that will address the direction of the ROK-US alliance, the Korean Peninsula, regional and global issues.

It is the first statement issued by both Korea and the United States since the inauguration of the Biden administration, so it is noteworthy what content will be included.

After the meeting, a ceremony to go to the ROK-US defense cost sharing agreement will be held to show the will to strengthen the ROK-US alliance.

Through the two ministers’ visits to Korea, the Korean government is expected to focus on coordinating North Korea policies to resume denuclearization dialogue at an early stage.

On the other hand, the United States, which has defined China as the biggest geopolitical challenge of the 21st century, is stressing that it must join forces with its allies to confront China.

In the same vein, the US is expected to order improvements in Korea-Japan relations for cooperation between the United States and Japan, and this meeting draws attention on the direction in which the situation in Northeast Asia will change.

This is YTN Kim Do-won.

[저작권자(c) YTN & YTN plus 무단전재 및 재배포 금지]