1. Vice Foreign Minister Lim Sung-nam will visit the US from August 27 till 29 to follow up on the consultation he held with US Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan over the phone on August 15. During his visit to the US, the Vice Minister will hold his first meeting with the Deputy Secretary since the latter’s taking office as well as those with other senior officials of the US to discuss the Republic of Korea-United States relations, and ways to beef up the bilateral alliance and to resolve nuclear and other issues of North Korea.

° Vice Minister Lim’s visit to the US will come as part of the active policy coordination efforts between the two countries, including those recently made through the channels between their Presidents, foreign ministers and National Security Councils. As such, the visit is expected to help further step up bilateral policy collaboration at the vice foreign ministerial level.

2. Vice Minister Lim will then visit Canada from August 29 till 31 and meet with ranking members of the Canadian government and parliament, including Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Ian Shugart, who visited the ROK and met with the Vice Minister in May.

° Vice Minister Lim’s visit to Canada, part of the efforts to continue robust high-level consultations under way between the ROK and Canada since the launch of the new government in the former, is expected to serve as an opportunity to seek ways to increase substantive bilateral cooperation in a mutually beneficial manner and enhance coordination on the North Korean nuclear issue.

※ The recent series of high-level consultations between the ROK and Canada includes the telephone conversation between the leaders on May 16 and their meeting on July 8 on the sidelines of a G20 event; the meeting between the Foreign Ministers on August 6 on the sidelines of the recent foreign ministerial meeting of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) and their telephone conversation on August 17; and the bilateral vice foreign ministerial meeting on May 30.


* unofficial translation