South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul will attend the NATO foreign ministers’ meeting this week, at a critical moment when Europe seeks deeper defense ties with Seoul amid US pressure on burden-sharing and as US President Donald Trump calls for a swift end to Russia’s grinding war in Ukraine, backed by North Korea.
Cho will participate in the NATO foreign ministers’ meeting session with the four Indo-Pacific partners, or IP4, on Thursday — marking the fourth consecutive year South Korea has been invited to the NATO foreign ministers’ meeting since 2022, according to the Foreign Ministry on Tuesday.
The NATO foreign ministers’ meeting will be attended by NATO allies as well as Indo-Pacific partner countries such as South Korea, Japan, Australia and New Zealand; and the EU and Ukraine.
The Foreign Ministry in Seoul said, “Discussions are expected to cover defense industry cooperation and security linkages between Europe and the Indo-Pacific region,” adding that Cho’s attendance will serve as an “important opportunity to flesh out strategic cooperation with NATO in areas such as the defense industry.”
