Yonhap News-peace forum

Yonhap News to hold annual peace forum this week on 70th anniv. of alliance with U.S.

SEOUL, June 26 (Yonhap) -- Yonhap News Agency will host an annual forum this week to discuss the shifting geopolitical situation and explore the future security environment of the Korean Peninsula as the South Korea-U.S. alliance marks its 70th anniversary.

The symposium, co-hosted by Yonhap News Agency and the Ministry of Unification, will take place at Lotte Hotel on Thursday 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 rising uncertainty on the peninsula beset by growing rivalry between Washington and Beijing, and the prolonged Russian invasion of Ukraine.

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 Seoul Philip Goldberg and Lt. Gen. Scott L. Pleus, deputy chief of the U.S. Forces Korea, will also address the session.

The South and the U.S. signed their mutual defense treaty, a bedrock alliance document, in October 1953, after the Korean War ended in a truce three months earlier.

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," participants 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 North Korea amid a protracted stalemate in denuclearization talks. Yoon has proposed an "Audacious Initiative," which promises to offer economic incentives to North Korea in return for Pyongyang's 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. marks 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 will be streamed live at its website (https://www.onekorea2023.co.kr).

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