South Korea to open diplomatic mission to NATO

Seoul, Jun 22 (EFE).- South Korea will establish a diplomatic mission to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in Brussels, a representative of the presidential office announced Wednesday, according to Yonhap news agency.

It comes ahead of President Yoon Suk-yeol’s visit to Spain to attend next week’s NATO summit, which will be his first as president, National Security Adviser Kim Sung-han told reporters at a press conference in Seoul.

The new NATO mission will be headed by Yoon Soon-gu, current South Korean ambassador to Belgium and the European Union, another presidential official said, according to Yonhap.

South Korea is not a member of the military alliance, but it has been invited to the Madrid summit on June 29-30 as a partner country along with other nations such as Japan, Australia and New Zealand at a time marked by the Ukraine war and China’s expansion.

On the sidelines of the NATO meeting, Yoon is expected to hold a trilateral summit with United States President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, and a four-way meeting with Kishida, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, an appointment that would be focused on promoting a free and open Indo-Pacific. EFE

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