1. On November 2, Deputy Minister for Political Affairs Yoon Soon-gu had a bilateral meeting with Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs of the United States (U.S.) David Stilwell who was on a visit to the Kingdom of Thailand for the 35^th ASEAN Summit and Related Summits. During the meeting, the two sides extensively exchanged views on matters of mutual interest, including the Republic of Korea (ROK)-United States alliance issues as well as regional and global ones, such as the ROK-Japan relations.

2. The Deputy Minister and the Assistant Secretary noted with appreciation that, as a result of continued efforts by the ROK and the U.S. governments to find ways to move practical cooperation forward based on their commitment to cooperation between the ROK’s New Southern Policy and the U.S. Indo-Pacific Strategy, which had been expressed at the bilateral summit on June 30, the two sides released at the meeting a fact sheet on the concrete progress in bilateral cooperation in various areas, including energy, infrastructure, digital economy and investment in human capital.

° The Deputy Minister and the Assistant Secretary agreed to continue to advance cooperation on the two countries’ policies, aimed at promoting peace and prosperity in the region, based on principles upheld by the two countries, such as openness, inclusiveness and transparency.

3. With regard to issues between the ROK and Japan, Deputy Minister Yoon explained the ROK government’s efforts to seek a reasonable solution through dialogue and asked the U.S. to play a possible role in the course of making efforts to improve ROK-Japan relations, for which the two sides agreed to make endeavors.

4. The Deputy Minister and the Assistant Secretary noted that since Assistant Secretary Stilwell’s inauguration in June, they have had a number of meetings and engaged in candid exchanges of views. They agreed to communicate closely on various matters, including bilateral and regional issues.