S. Korea's top diplomat meets U.S. think tank officials, discusses N. Korea, alliance issues

SEOUL, Dec. 8 (Yonhap) -- South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin met Thursday with a delegation from a U.S. think tank to discuss such issues as North Korea and the Seoul-Washington alliance, his office said.

The delegation from the National Committee on American Foreign Policy (NCAFP), an American non-partisan foreign policy think tank, was on a visit to Seoul as part of its annual tour to East Asia, according to the ministry.

Park was quoted as stressing that the South Korea-U.S. alliance has served as a linchpin of peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula in the past 70 years as he urged NCAFP's support in further bolstering bilateral ties.

The delegation included Susan Elliott, president of the group; Daniel Russel, vice president at the Asia Society Policy Institute; and Raymond Burghardt, chairman of the Pacific Century Institute.

julesyi@yna.co.kr
(END)