Remarks

Mr. Park, it is a great honour to be back in Seoul.
And great to meet you again.
Our visit today of me and my delegation, is a strong expression of the great importance we attach to the partnership between the Republic of Korea and NATO.
As you mentioned, it was an historic moment when the President of the Republic of Korea met all the other NATO leaders at the NATO Summit in Madrid in July last year.
My intention is to have the same kind of meeting at the Vilnius Summit in Lithuania this year.
And also, I very much hope that you can come to our Foreign Ministers Meeting in NATO later this spring.

Because all of that will strengthen our bond and our partnership.
And also the fact that you now have opened a dedicated mission to NATO in Brussels is also demonstrating the increased importance of our partnership.
I think that in a more unpredictable and uncertain world, it is even more important that countries that believe in freedom and democracy in the rules-based international order stand together.
We also know that our security is more and more interconnected.

We are of course concerned about the reckless missile tests and nuclear programs of North Korea.
And the war in Ukraine has also ramifications for your region.
We also know that North Korea is providing military support to the Russian war efforts with rockets and missiles.
This just highlights how we are interconnected.

We strongly believe that we can do more together in areas like cyber, like technology, and also when it comes to arms control and non-proliferation.
So there are many areas where we really believe that even stronger partnership between the Republic of Korea and NATO can be of mutual benefit.

Once again, thank you for receiving me and my delegation here.
We look forward to the meetings and to continue to expand our partnership.