1. On the sidelines of the 51st Munich Security Conference held on February 6 and 7, Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se met with US Secretary of State John Kerry on February 7. In the meeting, the two top diplomats took note of closer-than-ever coordination between the Republic of Korea and the United States in addressing North Korea issues, including its nuclear program, tensions in Northeast Asia, and global challenges. They agreed to continue stepping up policy coordination and cooperation on bilateral and multilateral issues in 2015.

2. The Minister and the Secretary shared the view that given the current situations on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia as well as the rest of the international community, the proposed visit of President Park Geun-hye to the US in 2015, when materialized, will be highly timely and appropriate. They agreed to hold in-depth consultations on such relevant details as the timing, formalities and agenda through diplomatic channels in order to make a success of the visit.

* According to the National Security Strategy report released on February 6, the US government, in pursuing its "rebalance to the Asia-Pacific" policy, attaches great significance to its bilateral relations with Northeast Asian countries and accordingly plans to invite the leaders of the ROK, China and Japan to the US in 2015.

3. The two sides, sharing deep concern over North Korean efforts to sophisticate its nuclear capability, agreed to accelerate consultations among relevant countries in a bid to draw up strategies and a concrete plan for moving the denuclearization of North Korea substantively forward. In particular, they exchanged in-depth views on ways to strengthen collaboration among five countries by building on the meaningful outcome of the ROK-US-Japan meeting of head-delegates to the Six-Party Talks recently held in Tokyo.

◦ Minister Yun, bringing renewed attention to North Korea’s recent threatening rhetoric and actions as well as diplomatic moves, -- including the possible attendance at the commemorative ceremony for Russia’s victory in World War II -- highlighted the need for the ROK and the US to continue collaboration in order to resume the process for the denuclearization of North Korea while managing the situation on the Korean Peninsula in a more stable manner based on their shared policy toward North Korea.

◦ Secretary Kerry, stressing that the ROK and the US share the same stance in terms of their North Korea policies, welcomed and expressed support for the ROK government’s efforts to resume inter-Korean dialogue.

4. With regard to the current situation in Northeast Asia, Minister Yun called the year 2015 a historic one that marks the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II and the Korean Peninsula’s liberation from Japan’s colonial rule as well as the 50th anniversary of the normalization of the ROK-Japan relations. He went on to explain the ROK government’s active efforts to step up cooperation in Northeast Asia, including the ROK-Japan bilateral cooperation, minilateral cooperation among the ROK, the US and Japan and among the ROK, China and Japan, and through the Northeast Asia Peace and Cooperation Initiative. Secretary Kerry highly hailed the ROK government’s Initiative and expressed willingness to cooperate actively on the policy.

◦ In particular, Minister Yun mentioned that led by the ROK, the chair country of the ROK-China-Japan cooperation mechanism, consultations are under way to schedule a trilateral Foreign Ministers’ meeting for around late March. In response, the Secretary commended the ROK for making tangible progress in that regard through its leading efforts. He went on to voice hope that such efforts will contribute to peace and stability in Northeast Asia.

◦ Minister Yun brought attention to the possible synergy effect from the ROK’s Northeast Asia Peace and Cooperation Initiative and the US’ “rebalance to the Asia-Pacific” policy, as well as the ROK government’s efforts to move the Initiative forward. Secretary Kerry responded by lauding keen interest and efforts of the ROK government in that regard.

- The two sides agreed to step up consultations on ways to make progress on the Initiative on the high level, including on the sidelines of multilateral meetings scheduled to take place in 2015.

5. With respect to the negotiations on the envisioned revision of the bilateral Civil Nuclear Cooperation Agreement, the Minister and the Secretary took note of the much progress made through creative efforts by the two countries. They agreed to hold the final round of negotiations in the near future and make their utmost efforts to reach a compromise as soon as possible. The revision of the Nuclear Cooperation Agreement is the biggest bilateral issue remaining, with the renewed Special Measure Agreement (SMA) for defense-burden sharing and the agreement on the transfer of wartime operational control concluded.

6. In terms of global issues, Secretary Kerry took note of the ROK’s important role and contributions as one of the US’ major partners in responding to such international challenges as the Ebola epidemic, terrorism, violent extremism, and the situations in the Middle East and Europe. He voiced hope that the ROK and the US will continue working together on such issues down the road.

7. The first ROK-US foreign ministers’ meeting in the year 2015 carries significance in that the two countries, based on their shared assessment of the complicated international situation, drew a common understanding on the direction and the roadmap for bilateral cooperation for the year 2015 and further strengthened their regional and global partnership. 


                           Spokesperson and Deputy Minister for Public Relations of MOFA

* unofficial translation