Seoul: South Korea’s Foreign Minister Cho Hyun plans to visit Japan and the United States later this week to hold talks with his counterparts of the two countries, Seoul’s foreign ministry said on Monday.
Cho will make a two-day trip to Tokyo starting Tuesday and meet one-on-one with Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya, before flying to Washington for talks with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday (US time), the ministry said.
The talks with Iwaya will be followed by a working dinner, it added.
They will mark Cho’s first bilateral talks with his respective Japanese and US counterparts since taking office early last week.
Cho’s two-nation swing comes as South Korea’s tariff negotiations with the US are at a critical juncture this week amid the looming August 1 deadline set by the Donald Trump administration. Unless a trade deal is reached, South Korean goods will be subject to a 25 per cent US reciprocal tariff and sectoral duties.
Top Seoul officials have been racing to strike an agreement to reduce the steep tariffs and minimise the impact on its export-dependent economy, Yonhap news agency reported.
In Tokyo, Cho is expected to use the talks with Iwaya to exchange opinions on the US tariffs, as Japan reached an agreement with the Trump administration just last week.
Under the deal, the US will impose a 15 per cent reciprocal rate on Japanese products, 10 percentage points lower than what was previously announced. The deal also includes Japan’s pledge to invest US$550 billion to build and expand core American industries.
Besides the tariffs, Cho and Iwaya are expected to discuss shared bilateral issues, including North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats, and reaffirm their commitment to advancing bilateral ties, as well as trilateral cooperation with the US.
During their first phone call on Thursday, the two ministers agreed that their countries should continue bilateral cooperation to address shared regional and global challenges, and pledged to maintain close high-level communication, including at the leaders’ level.
Cho has yet to hold a phone conversation with Rubio. His decision to visit Japan before the US is seen as atypical, as newly appointed foreign ministers have generally chosen Washington as their first stop for diplomatic talks.
(IANS)
