WASHINGTON (Yonhap) -- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced Thursday that she will visit South Korea this month to attend a global forum on development aid.
"Later this month, I'll visit South Korea for the fourth High-Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness," Clinton said in a speech to the East-West Center in Hawaii, according to a transcript. She is visiting the island for a ministerial meeting of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC).
The aid forum is slated to be held in South Korea's southern port city of Busan from Nov. 29 to Dec. 1. Around 2,000 delegates from around the world plan to review global progress in improving the effectiveness of development aid and to set a new agenda.
"In South Korea we will show once again how our alliance has gone global through our work together in the G-20 and the Nuclear Security Summit and now a major forum South Korea's hosting on development aid."
The secretary did not specify her schedule in South Korea, only saying that she will also travel to the Philippines and Thailand.
"So these coming days represent a significant period of engagement" in terms of strengthening the U.S. bilateral security alliances and deepening its working relationships with Asian nations, she said.
Speaking about North Korea, Clinton said the communist nation continues to defy the international community's demand to improve its human rights record and stop military threats.
"It shows a persistent disregard for the rights of its citizens and presents a major security challenge to its neighbors," she said. "We will continue to speak out forcefully against the threat from the regime that it poses to its own people and beyond."
The secretary added that the U.S. "takes very seriously the role" that its military plays in protecting the region, including more than 50,000 American troops stationed in South Korea and Japan.