1. Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Lim Sung-nam held a telephone conversation with new United States Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs David Hale on September 14.

※ David Hale was sworn in as Under Secretary for Political Affairs on August 30.

2. Vice Minister Lim congratulated Under Secretary Hale on his inauguration, and expressed hope that the diplomatic authorities of the Republic of Korea and the US would continue close consultations, as collaboration between the two countries is essential to make tangible progress, with inter-Korean and ROK-US summits set to take place to completely denuclearize the Korean Peninsula, and to establish a lasting peace on the Peninsula.

o Under Secretary Hale fully agreed on the importance of collaboration between the ROK and the US, and said that as new Under Secretary for Political Affairs, he would continue to closely work together with the ROK side.

o The Vice Minister and the Under Secretary also shared the view that the two countries could further strengthen their cooperation not only on various bilateral issues, but also on a range of regional and global issues, and agreed to continue communications and coordination to do so.

* unofficial translation