Yellen to discuss supply chains, imposing costs on Russia during visit to Seoul

By Byun Duk-kun

WASHINGTON, June 30 (Yonhap) -- U.S. Secretary of Treasury Janet Yellen will discuss ways to build stronger supply chains to help curb rising prices during her upcoming trip to South Korea, the treasury department said Thursday.

The U.S. secretary will also discuss ways to impose additional costs on Russia for its ongoing war in Ukraine, it added.

"During this visit, the Secretary will discuss building stronger and more resilient supply chains to help lower prices for American and global consumers, including by friend-shipping with trusted economic partners like the ROK," the department said in a press release on the outcome of a recently concluded trip to Seoul by Brian Nelson, undersecretary of treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence.

ROK stands for South Korea's official name, the Republic of Korea.

The department earlier said the secretary will be traveling to South Korea on July 19 and 20 as part of her first trip to Asia, which will also take her to Japan and Indonesia.

The trip will also mark the first of its kind by a U.S. treasury secretary to Seoul since 2016.

"Secretary Yellen will also discuss ways to further impose costs on Russia for its unprovoked invasion and continue her work coordinating the global response to address the war's consequences, including higher energy prices and food insecurity," the department said.

Meanwhile, the department said Nelson's trip to Seoul, which ended Wednesday, focused on countering aggression by North Korea.

"In recent months, Treasury has targeted the DPRK's revenue generating activities, including imposing sanctions on financial facilitators, procurement networks, and a mixer used to launder the proceeds of virtual currency theft," it said, referring to North Korea by its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

Nelson's trip to Seoul followed 18 rounds of North Korean missile tests, in which Pyongyang fired 31 ballistic missiles, the largest number of ballistic missile launched in a single year, according to U.S. officials.

bdk@yna.co.kr
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