1. The 2nd Korea-US Joint Public-Private Economic Forum, hosted by the Korea Economic Institute (KEI), took place in Washington, D.C. on December 6 (local time). The forum brought together about 120 people, including government officials, academics, businesspeople, people from the media, and other experts in the private sector from the Republic of Korea and the United States. They discussed ways to increase future-oriented cooperation to promote co-prosperity of the two countries.

o At the forum, sponsored by the ROK Ministry of Foreign Affairs and actively supported by the US Department of State, the ROK and the US sides explored new areas of cooperation that go beyond the FTA, and gathered the opinions of the private sector on ways the ROK’s New Southern Policy and the US Indo-Pacific Strategy can work together.

※ The forum took place, as the Presidents of the ROK and the US, in their summit in June 2017, agreed to discuss ways to increase economic opportunities through joint public-private forums. The first forum was co-hosted by the Foreign Ministry and the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy (KIEP) in Seoul on October 23, 2017.

2. In his keynote address, Vice Foreign Minister Lee Tae-ho took note that the ROK and the US had successfully overcome a range of challenges on the basis of their strong alliance, and stressed the need to further strengthen the ROK-US relations in the three areas of bilateral economic cooperation, regional cooperation, and global cooperation.

o US Representative from Virginia Don Beyer and former US Ambassador to the ROK Kathleen Stephens (President and CEO of the KEI), who attended the forum as guests from the US side, emphasized the importance of exchanges and cooperation in the private sector, as well as the ROK-US alliance, and said that the forum would serve as a good opportunity for the ROK and the US to go beyond security relations and work towards closer cooperative relations.

3. Drawing upon the results of discussions at the forum, the Foreign Ministry will continue to expand the horizons of the ROK’s economic diplomacy to mutually-beneficial areas. Related discussions will continue at the Foreign Ministry-Department of State Senior Economic Dialogue (SED), to be held in conjunction with the forum in Washington, D.C. on December 7, local time.

* unofficial translation