Press Briefing

Spokesperson and Deputy Minister for Public Affairs Park Il

December 9, 2025  14:30  KST

Good afternoon. Let me start today’s briefing.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Cho Hyun will hold a meeting with Minister of Foreign Affairs of Norway Espen Barth Eide on December 17.

The upcoming Korea-Norway Foreign Ministers’ meeting, the first of its kind since the inauguration of Foreign Minister Cho, will take place during the first visit to Korea by a Norwegian Foreign Minister in 32 years.

In the meeting, the two Foreign Ministers will discuss bilateral issues and ways for cooperation on the international stage and identify areas for future industrial cooperation.

Moving on, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Park Yoonjoo, together with his counterpart at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Panama, will host the fifth “Korea-Central America Special Roundtable” in Panama City, Panama, on December 10.

The meeting, the first of its kind to come in Central America since its launch in 2021, will bring together high-level delegations from seven Central American countries as well as government representatives from the United States, Spain and Mexico -- Central America’s partner countries for development cooperation.

During his visit to Panama, Vice Minister Park will also have bilateral meetings with his counterparts from six Central American countries to discuss ways to promote friendly relations between Korea and those countries and work more closely together in substantive areas as well as on regional and global stages.

The upcoming Roundtable, which will cover cooperation for enhanced public safety, is expected to serve as an opportunity to bolster cooperation with Global South countries.

Additionally, on December 11, Vice Minister Park will deliver opening remarks at the 2025 Korea-Central America Trade and Investment Forum in Panama City.

At the event, Vice Minister Park will ask Central American countries to work more closely with Korea in various areas including trade, investment, infrastructure, resources and energy, and will explore ways to support Korean companies’ bids to expand their presence in Central America.

Lastly, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Kim Jina will head to Washington, D.C., the United States, on December 10 for the tenth ROK-U.S. Senior Economic Dialogue (SED).

During the Dialogue, the ROK Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the U.S. Department of State will review the progress in the implementation of the follow-up on the ROK-U.S. summit held in October and discuss specific ways for bilateral cooperation mainly in such strategic industries as those involving shipbuilding, energy, cutting-edge science and technology, and critical minerals.

While in the U.S., Vice Minister Kim, at the invitation of the U.S. side, will attend as ROK head delegate the Pax Silica Summit on December 12.

During the forthcoming round of the Pax Silica Summit, a meeting hosted by the U.S. Department of State, the ROK and other participating countries will discuss ways to stabilize major supply chains among like-minded countries in order to realize the AI economy.

The results of the meeting will be available later in a press release.

(A question-and-answer session followed.)