1. Vice Foreign Minister Lim Sung-nam met with a delegation from the RAND ("Research ANd Development") Corporation, including its President and Chief Executive Officer Michael Rich and board members of the Center for Asia Pacific Policy, on December 7. In the meeting, the two sides exchanged views on the Republic of Korea-United States alliance, the North Korean nuclear issue and the security situation on the Korean Peninsula.

※ The RAND Corporation, founded in 1948, is the largest US think tank on security and defense policies. Its 18-member delegation is on a visit to the ROK to attend a board meeting of the RAND Center for Asia Pacific Policy, set to take place in Seoul on December 8.

2. Vice Minister Lim, citing North Korea’s launch of a ballistic missile on November 29, a highly provocative act, described the current situation on the Korean Peninsula as immensely grave. On that note, he stressed that it is more important than ever for the ROK and the US to respond to the situation jointly based on their strong bilateral alliance.

° The Vice Minister, taking note of President Trump’s visit to the ROK in November as an opportunity to reaffirm close ROK-US coordination on the North Korean nuclear issue, asked for the RAND delegation’s continued attention to and support for the efforts to advance the ROK-US alliance.

3. The RAND delegation displayed interest in the ROK-US alliance, nuclear and other issues of North Korea, and the situation in the region, and Vice Minister Lim articulated the ROK’s basic position regarding those matters. The delegates from the RAND Corporation mentioned that the meeting greatly helped them see the significance of the ROK-US alliance and understand the ROK government’s position, adding that the RAND Corporation will strongly support the efforts to beef up the ROK-US alliance.

° RAND President Rich, bringing attention to the RAND Corporation’s ongoing robust exchanges with the government and academic think tanks of the ROK to build cooperative ties therewith, particularly spoke of the Corporation’s plan to create a “Korea Policy Chair” position in it in a bid to further step up cooperation with the ROK.

※ The RAND Corporation, with the support of the Korea Foundation, plans to create in the first half of the year 2018 a “Korea Policy Chair” position, which will be in charge of studies on Korean security matters, marking the first such move by a think tank in the Western US.


* unofficial translation