Washington: Senior diplomats from South Korea and the United States held discussions on enhancing economic security and securing "trusted" supply chains during their economic talks in Washington. The meeting was part of efforts to strengthen bilateral cooperation, as highlighted by the State Department.

According to Yonhap News Agency, Seoul's Second Vice Foreign Minister Kim Jina and U.S. Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs Jacob Helberg convened the 10th Senior Economic Dialogue (SED). This dialogue followed the finalization of a bilateral trade and investment deal during the second summit between President Lee Jae Myung and U.S. President Donald Trump in late October.

The State Department emphasized that the under secretary and second vice foreign minister stressed the significance of enhancing joint economic security measures and securing trusted supply chains. The talks also focused on strengthening economic and national security alignment to maintain collective competitiveness and secure supply chains, including cooperation to address unfair and non-market policies and practices.

The diplomats explored further collaboration on critical minerals, with Helberg acknowledging South Korea's leadership on resilient supply chains in regional and multilateral fora. The meeting reaffirmed economic and other commitments made during the two summits between the two presidents in August and October.

The department highlighted that these commitments "inaugurated a more modernized U.S.-ROK Alliance," with ROK referring to South Korea's official name, the Republic of Korea. Under the trade and investment deal, Seoul committed to investing US$350 billion in the U.S., with $150 billion allocated to the shipbuilding sector and an additional $200 billion, alongside other pledges in exchange for Washington's lowering of "reciprocal" tariffs on Korean goods to 15 percent from 25 percent.

The SED underscored the success of the deal, which the department noted is "central to cementing progress on reciprocal trade, energy security, shipbuilding, and emerging and critical technologies." Discussions also included South Korean government- and private sector-led investments in American manufacturing and efforts to facilitate Korean business travel to the U.S. through the South Korea-U.S. Business Travel and Visas Working Group.