Korean, U.S. ambassadors set for joint tours in key outreach program

Top South Korean and American envoys will team up with each other later this week for on-the-spot efforts to promote public understanding on the Seoul-Washington alliance, organizers said Sunday.

South Korea's Ambassador to the U.S. Choi Young-jin and U.S. Ambassador to Seoul Sung Kim are scheduled to attend a forum in Honolulu, Hawaii, on Friday to discuss "current issues affecting the two countries' close relationship," according to the East-West Center, which will play host to the session.

Major topics include "South Korea's increasingly important global role, the new leader in North Korea, regional territorial disputes, the ROK-U.S. security alliance and the new Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement," the local think tank added. The ROK stands for South Korea's formal name, the Republic of Korea.

The event involving Choi and Kim is part of a series of public and private outreach programs organized by the Korea Economic Institute (KEI) based in Washington D.C.

The "Ambassadors' Dialogue on Korea" was launched in 1992, setting the stage for joint appearances each year by South Korea's ambassador to the U.S. and his American counterpart at conferences in several U.S. cities.

This year's dialogue tour has the theme of "The Road to U.S.-Korea Global Partnership."

Choi and Kim plan to visit Houston together on Monday, followed by trips to Los Angeles, San Diego and Honolulu, KEI officials said. (Yonhap News)