S. Korea's top diplomat attends G-20 meeting in Indonesia

All News 11:21 July 08, 2022

BALI, July 8 (Yonhap) -- South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin joined a Group of 20 (G-20) foreign ministers' meeting in Indonesia on Friday to discuss regional and global issues in his debut on the multilateral diplomatic stage as Seoul's top diplomat

He arrived on the resort island of Bali on Thursday for a two-day stay to take part in the session focusing on economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. It also set the stage for Park's bilateral talks with his counterpart from the world's 20 advanced and emerging economies.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine is also high on the agenda at this year's gathering as well as ways for strengthening multilateralism amid global energy.

South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin (L) and his Indonesian counterpart, Retno Marsudi, pose for a photo during their meeting in the Indonesian island of Bali on July 7, 2022, on the margins of the G-20 foreign ministers' meeting, in this photo provided by Park's office. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

Later Friday, Park plans to have his first trilateral meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi, his office said, in what would be another show of the regional powers' efforts to bolster their security cooperation against North Korea's growing nuclear and missile threat.

No formal one-on-one meeting between Park and Hayashi in Bali is scheduled yet, but Seoul officials did not rule out the possibility of a brief encounter or a pull-aside meeting.

Park is also expected to hold a series of bilateral talks with his counterparts from Spain, India, the United Arab Emirates and India.