Press Briefing

Spokesperson and Deputy Minister for Public Affairs Lee Jaewoong

February 13, 2025  14:30  KST

Good afternoon. Let me start today’s briefing.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Cho Tae-yul will attend the 61st Munich Security Conference (MSC) to be held from February 14 through 16.

The MSC is an international meeting held on an annual basis for top- and other high-level officials of major countries to exchange views on foreign and security affairs.

The upcoming round will consist of sessions on various topics, including global governance, democratic resilience and other global security challenges; the international order as well as regional conflicts and crises; and Europe’s role in the world.

On February 15, Foreign Minister Cho will join the session titled “It's a small world? The connected security of Europe and Asia” as a panelist and discuss with other participants key security issues in Asia and Europe including nuclear and other issues of North Korea, military cooperation between Russia and North Korea, and the war in Ukraine.

The MSC is expected to serve as an opportunity to share with the international community the Korean government’s policy stance regarding key geopolitical issues with great implications for the security on the Korean Peninsula, and to express its willingness to address those issues in coordination with the international community.

On the sidelines of the MSC, Foreign Minister Cho will have an ROK-U.S. foreign ministers’ meeting with the United States Secretary of State.

In this first foreign ministers’ meeting between the two countries since the inauguration of the new U.S. administration, the two sides will exchange views on the ROK-U.S. Alliance, the North Korean nuclear issue, ROK-U.S.-Japan trilateral cooperation and ROK-U.S. economic cooperation, among others.

Moving on, Minister of Foreign Affairs Cho Tae-yul will visit Johannesburg, the Republic of South Africa, from February 20 to 21 for the first G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting of the year 2025.

The forthcoming event will mark the first ministerial meeting to come in preparation for the G20 Summit following South Africa's assumption of the G20 Presidency for this year.

Foreign Minister Cho, together with other foreign ministers, will discuss the global geopolitical situation and look into the G20 objectives in 2025 presented by the chair country.

On the sidelines of the G20 event, the Foreign Minister will have bilateral meetings with his counterparts from other countries, as well as minilateral meetings such as with MIKTA, to discuss cooperation and regional issues.

(A question-and-answer session followed.)