ROK FM to visit Washington for meeting with Tillerson

SEOUL -- Top diplomat of the Republic of Korea (ROK) will visit Washington this week to meet with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and discuss ways on the cooperation in the agreed-upon talks between the ROK and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and between the United States and the DPRK.

Seoul's Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Monday that Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha will visit Washington from Thursday to Saturday and have a meeting with Tillerson during her three-day stay.

During the meeting, Kang and Tillerson will share the assessment of situations on the Korean Peninsula, which made a rapid progress recently.

The two diplomats will make an in-depth discussion on ways to closely cooperate between Seoul and Washington, regarding issues on the agreed talks between Seoul and Pyongyang and between Washington and Pyongyang, as well as the denuclearized Korean Peninsula.

Special envoys of ROK President Moon Jae-in met US President Donald Trump in Washington last week to brief Trump on their DPRK visit and convey top DPRK leader Kim Jong-un's eagerness to meet the US president.

Trump told the envoys that he would meet the DPRK leader by May to achieve a permanent denuclearization.

The leaders of the two Koreas had agreed to hold a summit in late April at Peace House, an ROK building in truce village of Panmunjom.

Kang and Tillerson will also talk about trade issues, including the recent US protectionist moves. The United States planned to impose heavy tariffs on steel imports, including those from the ROK.