1. On the occasion of the 74^th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Deputy Minister for Political Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Yoon Soon-gu had a meeting with Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs of the United States (U.S.) David R. Stilwell on September 23. During the meeting, the two sides exchanged views on the Republic of Korea (ROK)-U.S. relations and regional and global issues, including those concerning the ROK-Japan relations.

2. The Deputy Minister and the Assistant Secretary took note of close communication and coordination between the ROK and the U.S. at various levels in the face of diverse security challenges in the region and agreed on the need to continue stepping up bilateral coordination and communication on not only bilateral relations but also regional issues.

3. Deputy Minister Yoon explained the ROK government’s efforts and commitment to resolving the issues with Japan and asked the U.S. government to continue to play a role to the extent possible in facilitating constructive dialogue between the ROK and Japan so that the two countries can seek ways to resolve them.

4. As the ROK and the U.S. had expressed at the bilateral summit on June 30 their commitment to cooperation between the former’s New Southern Policy and the latter’s Indo-Pacific strategy, the Deputy Minister and the Assistant Secretary agreed to use this year’s East Asia Summit on November 14 and the ASEAN-Republic of KOREA Commemorative Summit on November 25-26, among others, as opportunities to continue to explore ways for moving forward the substantive bilateral cooperation.