1. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, together with the US Department of State, will hold the third Republic of Korea-United States Senior Economic Dialogue in Washington DC on December 7, local time, for a review of the progress in bilateral economic cooperation and a discussion on the possibility of closer cooperation in various sectors.

° The ROK-US Senior Economic Dialogue, a vice minister-level consultative mechanism between the ROK Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the US Department of State set up to seek ways to broaden the scope of bilateral economic cooperation, held its inaugural round in November 2015, followed by the second in January 2017. Its forthcoming round carries significance as the first of its kind since the inaugurations of the incumbent governments of the two countries.

° In conjunction with the Dialogue will come a “Korea-US Joint Public-Private Economic Forum" on December 6, as agreed at the bilateral summit talks in June 2017, with the Korea Economic Institute (KEI) as the host of the event. The forthcoming event will mark the second of its kind after the first held in Seoul in October 2017.

2. The upcoming Senior Economic Dialogue, to which the ROK and US head delegates will be Vice Foreign Minister Lee Tae-ho and Acting Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment Manisha Singh, respectively, will cover ways that the ROK’s New Southern Policy and the US' Indo-Pacific strategy can work together as well as that the ROK and the US can step up cooperation on such issues as women’s economic empowerment, energy and healthcare security.

3. “The 2nd Korea-US Joint Public-Private Economic Forum,” which will take place on December 6 in conjunction with the Senior Economic Dialogue and bring together officials of the Foreign Ministry and the US Department of State as well as civilian experts and entrepreneurs of the two countries, is expected to serve as an opportunity for multifaceted discussions on ways to step up cooperation between the two countries.

° The forum will kick off with a keynote speech by Vice Minister Lee Tae-ho and consist of session I on “economic cooperation since the revision of the KORUS (Korea-US) FTA; session II on “ways for the ROK’s New Southern Policy and the US' Indo-Pacific strategy to work together”; and session III on “science, technology and innovation: digital economy.”

- [Session I: economic cooperation since the revision of the KORUS FTA] Experts in the ROK-US economic ties, officials of the US Department of State and delegates from business circles will review the progress in ROK-US economic and trade cooperation since the revision of the bilateral FTA and discuss ways to enhance cooperation.

- [Session II: ways for the ROK’s New Southern Policy and the US' Indo-Pacific strategy to work together] Government officials of the two countries, including those from the ROK’s taskforce on the New Southern Policy and the US Department of State, will explain initiatives of their respective countries, followed by discussions among related experts on common elements between the ROK policy and the US strategy as well as possible specific ways to work together on them.

- [Session III: science, technology and innovation: digital economy] Director of the Seoul National University Big Data Institute Cha Sang-kyun and other members of academic circles will explain implications of digital economy. Delegates from digital industries of the two countries, such as Korea Telecommunications (KT), Google and Fiscal Note, will discuss digital economy’s way forward and its possibilities, as well as roles of enterprises and governments.

4. During his visit to the US, Vice Foreign Minister Lee Tae-ho will hold bilateral meetings and discuss various ROK-US issues with major figures of Congress as well as business and other sectors of the US, including Senator Johnny Isakson and Representative Bill Pascrell; Vice President of the Business Roundtable Paul DeLaney; and President and CEO of the KEI Kathleen Stephens, and President and CEO of the CSIS John Hamre.

5. The ROK side plans to use the forthcoming Senior Economic Dialogue and Joint Public-Private Economic Forum as opportunities to seek agenda for future-oriented economic cooperation between the governments and private sectors of the two countries; and to further step up bilateral cooperation on global issues.

* unofficial translation