Foreign Minister Cho Hyun has met US senators and White House officials to discuss alliance and security issues, including North Korea's nuclear program, his ministry said Saturday, after the two countries reached a tariff deal this week.
Cho met Sens. Bill Hagerty (R-TN) and Pete Ricketts (R-NE) and spoke with Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK) by phone Friday during his visit to Washington for talks with his US counterpart, Marco Rubio, earlier in the week, according to the ministry.
Cho noted that the tariff deal the two countries reached will serve to deepen their "strategic" economic cooperation, and asked the senators for their support for science and technology cooperation in various sectors, such as artificial intelligence.
The senators expressed expectations that the alliance will further deepen through the deal and vowed support so that South Korean investments lead to progress in major areas of cooperation, such as shipbuilding and manufacturing, according to the ministry.
Under the deal announced Wednesday (US time), Washington agreed to lower "reciprocal" tariffs on South Korea to 15 percent from an earlier proposed rate of 25 percent, while Seoul agreed to $350 billion in investments in the US, among other commitments.
Cho also met White House officials, including Andrew Baker, national security adviser to Vice President JD Vance, and Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, on Friday.
During his talks with Hassett, Cho asked for Washington's support for the upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit that South Korea will host in late October. (Yonhap)
