<Anchor> The
US Secretary of State and the Secretary of Defense visited Korea for the first time in 11 years.
Since the inauguration of the Biden administration, the first Korea-US ministerial meetings have been held one after another. We will connect with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to find out.
Reporter Kim Hye-young said that the meeting with the Korean-US foreign ministers ended a little while ago.
<Reporter> The
expansion of the Korea-US foreign ministers talks, held at 6:30 pm, lasted about an hour and 20 minutes, and the two ministers' solo talks lasted about 25 minutes.
Prior to the talks, Secretary of State Blincoln expressed condolences for the Korean victims who died in the Atlanta serial shootings.
[Blincoln/U.S. Secretary of State: I express my deepest condolences to the victims' families, friends, and all the people of the Korean American community who were greatly disturbed by the shooting.] At the
meeting with Minister Eui-yong Eui-yong, key issues such as North Korea's denuclearization, issues, and Korea-Japan relations were discussed. .
Secretary Blincoln also spoke head-on to North Korea's sensitive human rights issue, saying that the authoritarian regime continues to abuse its citizens extensively.
<Anchor>
And there was also a hard-line remark aimed at North Korea and China at the same time.
<Reporter> This
is from the ROK-US defense ministers' meeting prior to the diplomatic ministers' meeting. Austin's defense minister said this about North Korea and China.
[Austin/US Secretary of Defense: The unprecedented threat from China and North Korea makes the ROK-US alliance more important than ever.] This is a
criticism of North Korea and China as threats to the ROK-US alliance.
Secretary Austin also stressed the importance of strengthening alliances to counter these threats, especially the cooperation between Korea and Japan through improved relations between Korea and Japan.
<Anchor>
What is your visit to Korea tomorrow (18th)?
<Reporter>
All ministers gather in the morning to hold the so-called '2+2 talks', and in the afternoon, President Moon Jae-in is prevented.
Secretary Blincoln flies directly to Alaska to hold the first high-level US-China talks with the Chinese Communist Party diplomat politician Yang Jietz after the inauguration of Biden's regime.
(Video coverage: Jeong Seong-hwa, editor: Jeong Seong-hun, on-site broadcast: compilation)