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| ▲ This image shows the poster of an annual peace forum, co-hosted by Yonhap News Agency and the Ministry of Unification, to be held on June 29, 2023, at Lotte Hotel in central Seoul. (Yonhap) |
Yonhap News-peace forum
Yonhap News set to open annual peace forum on 70th anniv. of alliance with U.S.
SEOUL, June 29 (Yonhap) -- Yonhap News Agency, South Korea's key newswire, is set to hold its annual peace forum Thursday to discuss geopolitical situations on the Korean Peninsula, as the South Korea-U.S. alliance marks its 70th anniversary.
The symposium, also co-hosted with Seoul's unification ministry, will open at Lotte Hotel later in the day under the main theme of "70 Years of the ROK-U.S. Alliance: the Present and Future of the Korean Peninsula," bringing together senior government officials and security experts.
The forum comes amid a complex security environment, highlighted by North Korea's push to expand its nuclear arsenal, the intensified rivalry between Washington and Beijing, and Russia's protracted war with Ukraine.
Seoul and Washington signed their mutual defense treaty, a bedrock alliance document, in October 1953, after the Korean War ended in a truce three months earlier. The alliance has served as a linchpin for promoting peace and security in the region.
Foreign Minister Park Jin is scheduled to deliver a keynote speech, while a special session will be joined by senior U.S. officials, including Kurt Campbell, U.S. National Security Council coordinator for Indo-Pacific affairs, via video. U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Philip Goldberg and Lt. Gen. Scott L. Pleus, deputy chief of the U.S. Forces Korea, will also address the session.
The forum is divided into two comprehensive sessions.
In the first session titled "The reshaping of international order and South Korea's Indo-Pacific Strategy," panelists will discuss President Yoon Suk Yeol's strategy and explore ways to preserve peace and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region.
The second session will address ways for Seoul to resume dialogue with Pyongyang amid a protracted stalemate in denuclearization talks. Last year, Yoon proposed to the North an "audacious initiative" aimed at supporting its economic development in return for its commitment to denuclearization.
Seong Ghi-hong, CEO and president of Yonhap News Agency, said the event will serve as an opportunity for in-depth discussions with experts on foreign affairs, security and North Korea.
"As South Korea and the U.S. mark the 70th anniversary of their alliance, the international order is being reshaped by intensifying hegemonic competition between the U.S. and China in areas ranging broadly from security and economics to technology, as well as the prolonged Ukrainian war," he said.
The forum, the ninth of its kind, will be streamed live on its website (https://www.onekorea2023.co.kr).
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