South Korean FM Cho, Blinken hold talks on margins of APEC summit in Peru

Seoul, Nov 15 (IANS) S. Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken have met on the margins of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in Peru and discussed an array of issues ranging from bilateral ties to North Korea's troop dispatch to Russia, Seoul's foreign ministry said on Friday.

In the meeting held in Lima on Thursday (local time), both sides expressed concerns over North Korea and Russia's deepening military cooperation as an illicit one that gravely threatens the security of both the Indo-Pacific and Europe, according to the ministry.

In this sense, they agreed to closely cooperate on the issue amid the possibility of Russia providing military assistance to the North in return for the deployment, Yonhap news agency reported.

Blinken stressed that bipartisan support for the South Korea-US alliance remains strong and said major accomplishments of the alliance will likely be smoothly handed over to the new administration.

Cho introduced Seoul's efforts for the successful organisation of the United Nations' Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on plastic pollution, set to be held in the southeastern port city of Busan, in which Blinken expressed support.

The latest meeting came two weeks after Cho and Blinken met in Washington, D.C., late last month for the "two plus two" meeting that was joined by the Defence chiefs of the two nations.

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