Cho Hyun Says "U.S. Side Shares That Mood Is Negative Over Trade Commitments Implementation"

Foreign Minister Cho Hyun attended a briefing at the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Washington, D.C., on the 5th (local time) to explain the results of the visit to the United States. Yonhap News

Foreign Minister Cho Hyun, who is visiting the United States, said on the 5th (local time), "(U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio) said that while the ROK-U.S. relationship is not in a bad situation, he would frankly share that the internal mood in the United States is not good regarding the fulfillment of trade-related commitments."

Minister Cho held a meeting with Korean correspondents at the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Washington, D.C., that day and conveyed this account of the conversation between the two countries' foreign ministers. The United States did not hide its dissatisfaction over the delay in the National Assembly's handling of the Special Act on Strategic Investment Management between Korea and the United States (Special Act on Investment in the United States).

Minister Cho said, "I said that we should manage the situation well by communicating even more closely between the diplomatic authorities so that the negative atmosphere caused by the delay in implementing (Korea's) trade agreements does not spread to the overall ROK-U.S. relationship," and added, "I explained that our government's will to implement the (ROK-U.S.) agreements is firm, and that it is completely untrue that we are deliberately slowing down the legislative process in the National Assembly."

There are still concerns that trade issues, which initially surfaced as a tariff problem, could potentially affect security-related agreements, including those on nuclear-powered submarines, as well as the expansion of enrichment and reprocessing authorities. Earlier, Wi Sung-lac, Director of the National Security Office at the Blue House, said in a media interview that "the fallout from the collapse of the tariff negotiations with the United States is also affecting follow-up discussions in the security field, such as nuclear-powered submarines, uranium enrichment, and the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel."

Minister Cho said, "I made it clear (to Secretary Rubio) that cooperation in other areas, including security, must not be undermined by trade-related issues," and added, "I asked him to encourage the relevant U.S. government departments so that the three core ROK-U.S. cooperation agreements on nuclear energy, nuclear-powered submarines, and shipbuilding can be faithfully discussed."