Seoul, Dec 23 (IANS) South Korea's Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul held a video meeting on Monday with the chiefs of South Korea's diplomatic missions in the United States and emphasised the need for greater outreach to the host nation, the foreign ministry said.

Ambassador Cho Hyun-dong and the consul generals from New York, Los Angeles, Boston, Seattle, Chicago, San Francisco, Atlanta, Honolulu and Houston attended the meeting held amid concerns about a potential leadership vacuum in diplomacy following the National Assembly's impeachment of President Yoon Suk Yeol earlier this month, Yonhap news agency reported.

Cho praised the mission heads for their outreach efforts to various sectors in the US to stably manage bilateral relations and urged them to further enhance these efforts, the ministry said.

He also emphasised the need to mobilise all available resources to address diplomatic needs and meet public expectations.

The discussion also covered strategies for addressing high-profile issues in the US and ways to cooperate with Congress, state governments and state assemblies, as well as academic and economic circles, the ministry noted.

A senior diplomat will visit the US and Japan this week to discuss cooperation between the three countries and North Korea-related issues, Seoul's foreign ministry said on Sunday.

Earlier the ministry informed that first Vice Foreign Minister Kim Hong-kyun will embark on the five-day trip that will first take him to Washington for talks with his US counterpart on bilateral ties, and trilateral cooperation with Japan, and North Korea.

The trip comes after President Yoon Suk Yeol's impeachment on December 14 over his short-lived imposition of martial law, which has raised concerns over Seoul's policy coordination with Washington and Tokyo, especially with the incoming US administration of Donald Trump, set to take office next month.

Under Yoon, South Korea has sought to deepen trilateral security cooperation with the US and Japan amid evolving nuclear and missile threats posed by North Korea.

--IANS

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