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South Korean security and trade officials will discuss the importance of the bilateral alliance with the United States and North Korea's growing nuclear threats with the U.S. government transition team, the government said Wednesday.
Amid concerns that a high-profile political scandal gripping the country could undermine the efforts to build close ties with the incoming Donald Trump administration, the delegation embarked on a four-day trip to Washington.
"We will first make clear that the South Korea-U.S. alliance is a crucial partnership for both countries and serves the interests of all parties," Cho Tae-yong, the deputy chief of the National Security Office under the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae, told reporters before departing for Washington.
"Based on the shared understanding of the seriousness and urgency of the North's nuclear issue, we will discuss the need to find solutions (to the issue) while maintaining our pressure-centric stance through close bilateral cooperation."
The delegation will also discuss the "win-win" nature of the bilateral trade relations, Cho added.
Cho did not elaborate on whom his delegation will meet.
The delegation's trip comes amid growing concerns about policy shifts in the incoming U.S. administration, which is slated to take office Jan. 20.
On the stump, Trump, a Republican tycoon-turned-politician, has made a series of controversial remarks that questioned the economic value of regional alliances and disparaged the South Korea-U.S. free trade agreement as a "job-killing" deal.
The delegation includes Kim Hong-kyun, special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Lee In-ho, deputy minister for international trade and investment at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. (Yonhap)
