Foreign ministry brushes off news report about Netherlands' summoning of envoy as customary consultations
President Yoon Suk Yeol, fourth from left, and his wife, Kim Keon Hee, third from left, alongside Dutch King Willem-Alexander, left, and Dutch Queen Maxima, second from left, meet a group of Korean residents during a welcome ceremony for the Korean leader at Dam Square in Amsterdam, Dec. 12. Yonhap
Korea's ambassador to the Netherlands had customary consultations with Dutch officials ahead of President Yoon Suk Yeol's state visit, the foreign ministry said Friday, after a news report said the Netherlands called in the top envoy over "excessive demands" for presidential protocol.
The JoongAng Ilbo daily reported Friday that the Dutch government called in Ambassador Choe Hyoung-chan a week ago to relay "concerns and requests" regarding Korea's "various demands" in the preparations for Yoon's state visit to Amsterdam.
The news report said the Netherlands expressed concerns over Seoul's request to allow a larger number of visitors than the limit into the secured area of Dutch chip equipment maker ASML for Yoon's visit to the facility with a handful of top Korean businesspeople.
The Netherlands was also uncomfortable about some requests like asking about the size of an elevator at a visiting site for the presidential escort, the report said.
Seoul's foreign ministry said what the ambassador had with the Dutch officials were "consultations" that took place as part of usual diplomatic communications to fine-tune the details for the state visit.
"It is customary to coordinate and narrow down the differences through repeated consultations and discuss the format for a successful event," a ministry official said. "The consultation between Ambassador Choe and the Dutch side was also part of communications aimed at quickly coordinating the details on the itineraries and protocol."
"The Netherlands highly assessed the expertise and accuracy of Korea's protocol team and expressed satisfaction and gratitude many times to our side," the official added.
Yoon returned home early on Friday from his five-day trip to the Netherlands. It was the first state visit by a Korean president since the establishment of diplomatic ties in 1961. (Yonhap)