1. On October 24, Minister of Foreign Affairs Kang Kyung-wha met with a delegation from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) of the United States, including its President John Hamre, and exchanged views with the group on matters of mutual interest, including the situation on the Korean Peninsula and the Republic of Korea-United States relations.

※ The CSIS delegation was composed of CSIS President John Hamre, former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, former US Ambassador to the ROK Mark Lippert, Senior Vice President of the CSIS Michael Green, Korea Chair of the CSIS Victor Cha, CSIS Senior Fellow Sue Mi Terry, etc.

2. Minister Kang noted with appreciation that the 2018 Inter-Korean Summit Pyeongyang and the ROK-US summit in New York had helped to create a new momentum of denuclearization talks between the US and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, as could be seen from the fourth visit to the DPRK by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the agreement to hold the second US-DPRK summit at an early date. She added that going forward, diplomatic efforts will continue on the basis of close ROK-US coordination for the inter-Korean and US-DPRK relations to contribute in a virtuous circle to the denuclearization and the establishment of peace on the Korean Peninsula.

° The CSIS delegation, commending the ROK government’s hard work to promote peace and accelerate denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula, stressed that it was important to continuously and on the basis of the ironclad ROK-US alliance lead the DPRK to take concrete denuclearization steps.

3. The CSIS delegation mentioned that it was time to delve deeply into ways to sustainably advance the ROK-US alliance, which has been maintained and moved forward over the past 65 years. On that note, the group suggested continuously broadening the scope of cooperation to include various areas, such as issues concerning not only the Korean Peninsula but also other regions and the global community.  

° Minister Kang, bringing renewed attention to the ROK-US agreement reached at the bilateral summit talks in June 2017 to develop the bilateral alliance into a comprehensive strategic one, stated that to that end, the ROK and the US will continue close communication with each other.

4. Minister Kang extended appreciation to the CSIS, a leading think tank in Washington DC, for contributing to the advancement of the ROK-US relations through various research and exchange activities regarding the Korean Peninsula and the ROK-US relations, asking the think tank to continue such activities. The CSIS delegation stated that the organization will continue vigorous efforts to promote the ROK-US relations and to enhance mutual understanding between people of the two countries.

* unofficial translation