1. Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha met with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo of the US in New York, the US, on July 20. In the meeting, the two top diplomats reviewed the progress in the situation on the Korean Peninsula since their latest bilateral meeting in Tokyo, Japan, on July 8 and discussed possible next steps.

※ The other participants in the meeting were Ambassador/Permanent Representative to the UN Cho Tae-yul and Special Representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs Lee Do-hoon from the ROK; and Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley and acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Mark Lambert from the US.

° At the meeting held ahead of a briefing session for UN Security Council member states on the situation on the Korean Peninsula, the Minister and the Secretary reviewed the progress in the implementation of the measures stipulated in the Panmunjeom Declaration and the joint statement adopted by the US and North Korean leaders; and discussed in depth various ways to seek tangible progress.

° Minister Kang informed her US counterpart of the ROK government’s efforts to implement the measures stipulated in the Panmunjeom Declaration, asking for robust cooperation of the US government for their smooth implementation. Secretary Pompeo shared with the Minister the progress in the recent US-North Korea follow-up negotiations, including on the proposed repatriation of remains of US soldiers killed in the Korean War, and suggested that the ROK and the US jointly take next steps in firm collaboration and close coordination with each other.

° The two top diplomats, reaffirming the importance of the role of the ROK-US alliance in the course toward denuclearization, agreed to maintain watertight coordination on the full range of alliance-related issues.

2. The ROK-US foreign ministerial meeting came as part of strategic communication and coordination efforts made by the Minister and the Secretary as often as necessary in a bid to achieve a complete denuclearization and a lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula. As such, it is seen to have served as an opportunity to further step up the ROK-US coordination on nuclear and other issues of North Korea.

* unofficial translation