Seoul, Washington Coordinate Foreign Minister's Visit for Talks With Rubio

South Korea and the United States are working out details for a possible visit by Foreign Minister Cho Hyun to Washington, where he would hold face-to-face talks with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on a range of pending bilateral issues, Seoul officials said Tuesday.

The two top diplomats agreed during a phone call last week to meet in person soon and maintain close communication as they try to advance cooperation on the alliance, security and economic matters. A foreign ministry official said both sides recognize the need for substantive discussions to move pending issues forward without further delay, though scheduling has proven difficult given each minister's demanding calendar.

One option under consideration is holding the meeting on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly's 81st high-level week, set to run Sept. 18-28 in New York. That gathering could also create an opening for President Lee Jae Myung to meet U.S. President Donald Trump. However, officials indicated they would prefer an earlier, standalone visit to Washington or another location before the New York session, saying a meeting is unlikely to happen as early as this week but should come "sooner rather than later."

Among the outstanding issues on the two countries' agenda are South Korea's pledged $350 billion in U.S. investments under a joint fact sheet adopted after last year's Lee-Trump summit, as well as revisions to the Korea-U.S. nuclear cooperation pact known as the 123 Agreement. Seoul is seeking changes that would allow it to enrich uranium and reprocess spent nuclear fuel domestically, and the two sides are also discussing South Korea's ambitions to build nuclear-powered submarines.

A follow-up round of bilateral security consultations, originally planned for July after an inaugural session in June, has yet to be rescheduled, with officials citing Washington's heavy focus on the Middle East crisis as a factor in the delay.

The potential Cho-Rubio meeting also comes as uncertainty lingers over the direction of U.S. policy toward North Korea. Trump has signaled openness to renewed engagement with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, stirring questions about Washington's continued commitment to denuclearization. Seoul has emphasized the importance of close coordination with the United States as it pushes to resume dialogue with Pyongyang and address the North's nuclear program.