Seoul, July 24: White House national security advisor John Bolton on Wednesday met with South Korean senior officials to discuss key bilateral issues amidst stalled denuclearization talks with North Korea, Seoul’s trade war with Japan, and an air space spat between Seoul and Russia on Tuesday.
Bolton met with South Korea’s defence minister Jeong Kyeong-doo, foreign minister Kang Kyung-wha and Chung Eui-yong, the chief of national security office in Seoul in order to discuss issues ranging from the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula to Seoul’s recent airspace dispute with Russia, and also ways to bolster the US-South Korean alliance.
Hours before his meeting with Kang, Bolton said: “I think the main objective we have, and I know that you have, is to emerge with a stronger ROK-US alliance that really has kept the peace in this part of the world for a long time.”
In their public statement, Kang and Bolton mentioned broad aims over issues like Pyongyang, but also hinted at other sectors as well, according to Reuters news reports.
Kang thanked the US minister for American leadership beyond the area, “especially in the Strait of Hormuz”, in the Middle East region.
“I think your leadership trying to keep things stable in that region has been very much appreciated, and we’re fully supportive of that as well,” she said.
Bolton said there are several challenges out there, adding, “… some in this part of the world, some in other parts of the world, but I’m confident that the ROK and U.S. will work very closely together to resolve them.”
South Korea’s opposition Liberty Korea Party’s chief Na Kyung-won also met with Bolton over her request, Na said.
Referring to the airspace incident by the Russian military jet, Na stated she told Bolton about “the importance of the South Korea-U.S. alliance” and said Tokyo’s export curbs were “not helpful” to their trilateral cooperation between Japan, the US and Korea.