Foreign Minister Cho Hyun and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio held a phone call on the 24th and reaffirmed close coordination between South Korea and the United States on issues concerning the Korean Peninsula.
The Foreign Ministry said the two discussed North Korea, Iran and the South Korea-U.S. relationship during the call. Both sides reaffirmed their commitment to the principle of denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula while maintaining close coordination on North Korea policy. They also agreed to continue communication and cooperation to preserve peace and stability on the peninsula through dialogue and diplomacy.
The two ministers had been arranging the call to share views on President Donald Trump's recent series of messages toward North Korea and the possibility of a U.S.-North Korea summit, according to sources.
Trump posted a photo of his 2019 meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at Panmunjom on his social media platform Truth Social on the 15th local time. The next day, he said he had a "very good relationship" with Kim and that he had ordered a scaling back of joint South Korea-U.S. military exercises. On the 19th, he anticipated a summit with Kim within the year but declined to say whether the goal of North Korea's denuclearization still stood.
Some observers have raised the possibility that Trump could tolerate North Korea's nuclear weapons as he pursues a summit. Caution has emerged even within pro-Trump circles on this point. In a report on the 23rd local time, Fox News noted that Trump is facing a North Korea with far weaker incentives to negotiate than during his first term, and warned that if a deal leaves the North's nuclear weapons in place, North Korea could interpret it as de facto recognition as a nuclear-armed state.
Against this backdrop, the two ministers reaffirming their coordination on North Korea policy through a direct call is read as a signal that Seoul and Washington intend to maintain close alignment in preparation for possible U.S.-North Korea talks.
Concerns over South Korea's role are also expected to ease somewhat following the call. Kim Yo-jong, head of the North Korean Workers' Party's General Affairs Department, drew a line against South Korea's involvement in a statement on the 20th. Controversy over Seoul's role had also arisen after Trump said he had asked the South Korean president whether the country would join efforts to denuclearize Iran but received a refusal.
