South Korea, U.S. Foreign Ministers Meet... Focus on Hormuz Deployment and U.S. Investment

[Anchor]

South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio have held talks in Washington D.C. for the first in seven months. Core pending issues, such as the deployment of troops to the Strait of Hormuz and 350 billion dollars in investment in the United States, were reportedly discussed in depth.

Reporting from Washington, this is correspondent Lee Hanseok.

[Reporter]

The bilateral meeting between South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio took place at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C. last night, Korean time (September 18).

Coming seven months after their initial talks in February, this meeting serves as a major turning point to review key security and economic issues between the two nations following the launch of the second Trump administration.

The biggest issue in this meeting is the coordination of positions between the two countries regarding the U.S. request for contributions in the Strait of Hormuz.

President Lee Jae-myung drew a clear line during a press conference yesterday, stating that there will be no troop deployment that involves or engages in war.

However, given that he stated the government is pondering ways to strengthen safety measures for the Cheonghae Unit, Minister Cho is reported to have focused on finding a practical compromise that accommodates U.S. demands while avoiding direct military intervention.

Follow-up measures for the 350 billion dollars in investment in the United States were also placed on the table.

Although the initial investment announcement, which had been originally expected, was postponed to next week due to the delayed reporting schedule to the National Assembly, attention is focused on whether a broad consensus was reached between the ministers of the two countries through this meeting.

In addition, it is known that they broadly discussed the possibility of pushing for a North Korea-U.S. summit, which U.S. President Donald Trump has mentioned several times, as well as ways to cooperate on the situation on the Korean Peninsula.

Prior to the talks, Minister Cho met with key figures in the U.S. Congress to urge unwavering, bipartisan support for the South Korea-U.S. alliance and the implementation of agreements even after the midterm elections in November.

The final outcome of this meeting, which will serve as a watershed for sensitive coordination over the level of troop deployment and large-scale economic cooperation, is expected to become concrete shortly.

(Video by Oh Jung-shik | Video Editing by Chae Chul-ho)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.