On the 25th (local time), Minister Cho of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs pointed to nuclear energy and artificial intelligence (AI) as promising future areas of cooperation for the South Korea-U.S. alliance and emphasized strengthening the partnership between the two countries.
Minister Cho visited New York, United States, to attend the U.N. General Assembly and took part in a discussion hosted by the Asia Society, saying, "For the past 80 years, South Korea and the United States have maximized their respective strengths and supported each other."
He recalled his experience participating in the 2009–2011 negotiations to revise the South Korea-U.S. nuclear cooperation agreement, noting, "Through that process, I learned how important it is for the two countries to strengthen their nuclear energy partnership." Minister Cho emphasized, "Korea has established world-class expertise in nuclear power plant construction, and the United States leads innovation in nuclear technology," adding, "If the two countries join forces, we can generate powerful synergy."
In particular, he offered concrete examples of cooperation, such as jointly entering third-country markets to build nuclear power plants or jointly developing and exporting small modular reactors (SMRs).
Regarding the AI sector, Minister Cho said, "South Korea and the United States are natural partners," adding, "Korea leads in semiconductor manufacturing and supply infrastructure and contributes to a stable supply chain."
He added, "The South Korea-U.S. alliance has built two pillars of security and the economy through the mutual defense treaty, the stationing of U.S. Forces Korea, and the South Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (FTA)," and "it is now expanding further into new areas such as advanced science and technology, shipbuilding, AI, semiconductors, and nuclear energy."