Senior US official says to see to ensure full fact sheet implementation: foreign ministry

Vice Foreign Minister Park Yoon-joo, right, shakes hands with his U.S. counterpart, Allison Hooker, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Seoul, Oct. 10, as they meet to discuss the bilateral alliance and coordination over North Korea's nuclear issues ahead of the upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. Joint Press Corps

A senior U.S. State Department official has conveyed that she will work to ensure that follow-up measures from a joint summit document with South Korea are fully implemented, Seoul's foreign ministry said Wednesday.

Allison Hooker, U.S. under secretary of state of political affairs, made the remark during her meeting with First Vice Foreign Minister Park Yoon-joo in Washington, as Park asked her to help produce a "concrete and tangible" outcome through the envisioned fact sheet working groups, the ministry said in a release.

"Vice Minister Park asked the under secretary to leverage her longstanding expertise in South Korea-U.S. relations to help generate concrete and tangible results through the operation of sectoral working-level consultative bodies," it said.

"In response, Under Secretary Hooker pledged to see to ensure the faithful implementation of follow-up measures," the ministry said.

At an earlier meeting with U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau, Park and his counterpart agreed to swiftly launch working groups for follow-up negotiations on the two recent leaders' summits, which included Seoul's push for nuclear-powered submarines and the pursuit of civil uranium enrichment and spent fuel reprocessing rights.

Park also noted the U.S. announcement on the tariff reduction for South Korea, as confirmed by Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and requested subsequent actions be taken by relevant U.S. agencies, such as the publication of the tariff change in the Federal Register.

The two sides also exchanged views on the recent situation on the Korean Peninsula and agreed to maintain close coordination on North Korea policy, including the region's denuclearization and efforts to bring the North back to dialogue.