1. Vice Foreign Minister Cho Hyun met with a delegation from The Washington Times of the United States on February 11, during which the two sides exchanged views on the forthcoming second summit between the United States and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and other developments regarding the Korean Peninsula as well as the situation in Northeast Asia.  

※ The Washington Times delegation consisted of 12 people, including former Representatives Dan Burton and Ted Poe, former Special Envoy for Six-Party Talks at the Department of State Joseph DeTrani, former Ambassador to the Republic of Korea Christopher Hill and officials of The Washington Times.

2. Vice Minister Cho took note of the fact that after the recent high-level talks and working-level negotiations between them, the US and the DPRK had announced their plan to hold the second bilateral summit in the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam on February 27 and 28; and said that the ROK government was making utmost efforts for the meeting to succeed and achieve great progress toward denuclearization and a permanent peace on the Korean Peninsula.

° The Vice Minister went on to highlight the ongoing development of the ROK-US alliance into a linchpin for peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and in the Asia-Pacific region even amid the changing international situation; and to ask The Washington Times delegation to continue paying attention to and playing an active role in the US in the work to promote peace on the Korean Peninsula and strengthen the ROK-US alliance.

3. The delegation mentioned that The Washington Times has been paying keen attention to the ROK, as could be seen from annual visits to the ROK by its officials, adding that the media outlet would continue efforts to help major figures in the US better understand the ROK and to advance the ROK-US relations.

* unofficial translation