1. On the sidelines of the foreign ministerial meeting of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha met bilaterally with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson of the US on August 6.

2. The Minister and the Secretary shared the view that significant advances have been made in the North Korean nuclear and missile capabilities; and mainly discussed various bilateral and multilateral measures that could be taken to refrain North Korea from launching further provocations and to induce it toward denuclearization by drawing upon steadfast coordination between the Republic of Korea and the United States and with a strong strategic deterrence in place against the North.

° In particular, the two top diplomats wholeheartedly welcomed the unanimous adoption by China, Russia and all the other member states of the UN Security Council earlier in the day, August 6, of Resolution 2371, which includes highly effective measures for blocking the inflow of money to North Korea.

° In addition, the two ranking officials reaffirmed that a complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of North Korea through peaceful means is the shared, resolute goal of the ROK and the US, affirming that the purpose of the sanctions and pressure on the North is to seek neither a regime change nor collapse in the North, and that the door to dialogue remains open.

3. The Minister and the Secretary discussed the foreign ministerial meetings of the ARF and the East Asia Summit (EAS) to come the next day, August 7; agreed to work closely together at the ARF and various other consultative bodies in a bid to make the ongoing ASEAN-related foreign ministerial meetings an opportunity to urge North Korea to refrain from any further reckless provocations and make a right, strategic determination to seek denuclearization. On that note, they hailed the separate statement ASEAN had adopted on North Korea at its foreign ministerial meeting the day before, August 5.

4. The Minister and the Secretary reaffirmed that it serves the strategic interest of their two countries to respond jointly to the North Korean threats and build a permanent peace on the Korean Peninsula; drew a common understanding that in order to do so, their two countries need to closely coordinate their policies and advance their alliance; and agreed to meet with each other on the sidelines of the planned multilateral meetings and various other events for further consultations in that regard.



* unofficial translation