NATO Foreign Ministers Meeting This Week... South Korea Attends for 3 Consecutive Years

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) will hold a foreign ministers' meeting this week. South Korea is expected to attend the meeting, having been invited for the third consecutive year.

According to NATO on the 1st, a meeting of foreign ministers from 32 countries will be held over two days on the 3rd and 4th at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium.

NATO Headquarters in Brussels, Belgium
[Photo by Yonhap News]

This event marks the first ministerial-level meeting attended by Sweden, which joined last month as the 32nd member country. It is held to coincide with NATO's 75th anniversary on the 4th.

At this meeting, NATO is expected to showcase the enhanced status of the security alliance strengthened by the addition of Finland and Sweden, key military powers in Northern Europe after the Ukraine war. Amid concerns that conflicts between the United States and NATO European member countries could intensify if former U.S. President Donald Trump wins re-election in November, the importance of NATO's collective defense system will be emphasized and unity will be reinforced.

Former President Trump has criticized European NATO member countries for insufficient defense spending.

At last year's summit, NATO agreed on a guideline for each country's defense spending to be at least 2% of their Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This meeting may discuss increasing defense spending by European member countries and expanding regional weapons production capabilities.

For the third consecutive year, NATO has invited four Asia-Pacific partner countries (AP4)?South Korea, Japan, New Zealand, and Australia?to the meeting. Since the 2022 foreign ministers' meeting, NATO has held separate sessions for these four countries. South Korea will be represented by Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yeol. With issues related to military closeness between North Korea and Russia expected to be discussed, attention is focused on the possibility of bilateral meetings between foreign ministers of South Korea and Japan, as well as South Korea and the United States.

Meanwhile, NATO is expected to invite the leaders of the AP4 countries, including President Yoon Suk-yeol, to this year's Washington summit. Japan's Kyodo News reported yesterday, citing sources, that the U.S. government is discussing holding a trilateral summit of South Korea, the United States, and Japan in the U.S. this July.