1. The 1st ROK-Australia Strategic Dialogue will take place in Seoul on July 30 with MOFAT’s Deputy Minister for Political Affairs Kim Kyou-hyun and his Australian counterpart Heather Smith as the heads of their respective delegations.

2. The upcoming Strategic Dialogue will mark the first of its kind since the Republic of Korea and Australia, two middle-power countries in the Asia-Pacific region, decided to merge their previous high-level consultative mechanisms -- Policy Consultation and Political-Military Dialogue – into this Dialogue in view of the need to discuss in a larger framework the changing security environment in Asia and concrete cooperation measures.

3.  In the Strategic Dialogue, the two countries will exchange in-depth views on a wide range of issues, including the strategic situation in the Asia-Pacific region, issues concerning the Korean Peninsula, cooperation in defense and security, international security, and economic cooperation. 


                          Spokesperson and Deputy Minister for Public Relations of MOFAT

* unofficial translation