Foreign Minister Cho Hyun stated on October 2 regarding the South Korea-U.S. strategic investment project that it will serve as "an important historic milestone in realizing the vision of strengthening the South Korea-U.S. alliance into a future-oriented comprehensive strategic alliance."

Meeting with the foreign ministry press corps on October 2, Cho made these remarks regarding the plan to pursue the South Korea-U.S. strategic investment project officially announced by both countries.

Minister Cho emphasized, "The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will also actively contribute so that both nations can prosper further through the successful implementation of the strategic investment project and jointly strengthen the alliance's capabilities in key future industries."

He also stated that based on the Joint Fact Sheet (JFS) from the South Korea-U.S. summit announced in November last year, consultations between South Korea and the United States will be accelerated to achieve tangible results in areas such as conventionally armed nuclear-powered submarines, civil uranium enrichment and reprocessing for peaceful purposes, shipbuilding cooperation, and the transfer of wartime operational control (OPCON).

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs views that differences between the two countries have been largely resolved following the South Korea-U.S. summit, and plans to resume security consultations that had stalled for a time and advance them quickly.

In this regard, a senior foreign ministry official assessed that the frustration and grievances accumulated between the two countries were "for now resolved" through the recent South Korea-U.S. summit, adding, "Security issues will also be resumed soon, and we plan to proceed with negotiations as quickly as possible as we desire."

Regarding security discussions such as nuclear-powered submarines, nuclear fuel enrichment and reprocessing, and shipbuilding cooperation, the official acknowledged that "progress was not made as much as we had hoped," but added, "Both sides now share a picture of 'what it will look like once completed.' We will soon push forward again quickly."

The senior official also drew a line regarding the inclusion of the Alaska liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in U.S. President Donald Trump's official announcement of South Korea's investment in the U.S., saying, "As to whether this will re-emerge as a point of contention between South Korea and the U.S., I see almost no possibility of that."

He noted that Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Kim Jung-kwan clearly conveyed to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick that the Alaska project would also be reviewed through due process, saying, "In that sense, it can be viewed that there is no disagreement (between South Korea and the U.S.)."

Meanwhile, Minister Cho stated that since the launch of the Lee Jae-myung administration through August, follow-up measures resulting from summit diplomacy have been specified and managed into 610 deliverables, of which 212 cases, or about 35 percent, have been completed or produced tangible outcomes.

As representative examples, he cited the elimination of the "European origin" requirement in Italy's hyper-depreciation scheme on the occasion of the South Korea-Italy summit, as well as addressing steel import regulations through the South Korea-EU summit.

He also stated that 64.5 percent of the 1,257 corporate grievances received during summit diplomacy processes had been resolved, and 55.8 percent of 4,079 civil petitions concerning overseas Koreans had been addressed.

Cho said, "With a sense of responsibility, I will see to it until the end that summit diplomacy activities culminate in tangible achievements that the public can feel in their everyday lives."

(Photo: Yonhap News)