Minister Cho Hyun of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will visit the United States to attend a ministerial meeting on critical minerals on Feb. 4. With U.S. President Donald Trump recently reiterating plans to raise tariffs on Korea, attention is on whether a South Korea–U.S. foreign ministers' meeting will take place.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Park Il said at a regular briefing on the 29th, "This meeting is the first ministerial conference on critical minerals hosted by the U.S. Department of State," and added, "Minister Cho plans to discuss cooperation measures for stabilizing and diversifying supply chains with partners including the United States and the Group of Seven (G7), as well as countries holding critical minerals."
Earlier, the U.S. Department of State announced that Secretary Marco Rubio will host a ministerial conference on critical minerals on Feb. 4, inviting key partners from around the world. The meeting is intended to respond to China's export controls on rare earths and critical minerals, and it is known that, in addition to G7 nations, Korea, Australia and India are among those invited.
Minister Cho also plans to seek a bilateral meeting with Secretary Rubio during this visit. If the meeting takes place, the issue of President Trump's recent declaration that he would unilaterally raise a reciprocal tariff on Korea is likely to be a key agenda item.
An official at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, "As this is a multilateral meeting with officials from about 30 countries attending, whether a bilateral meeting between South Korea and the United States will be held is under review," adding, "However, our government has a firm position that the existing tariff agreements must continue to be pursued."
The official added, "Under this position, we plan to fully explain to the U.S. side the Korean government's efforts and the related matters under way in the National Assembly."