Bipartisan delegation to head to U.S. this week to meet with Trump confidants

A bipartisan delegation of lawmakers will visit the United States this week to meet with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s inner circle, Korea’s government announced Monday.

Former Foreign Minister Park Jin speaks to an attendee at a state luncheon hosted by the U.S. Secretary of State at the department headquarters in Washington on April 28, 2023. [YONHAP]

A bipartisan delegation of lawmakers will visit the United States this week to meet with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s inner circle, Korea’s government announced Monday.

Officials from the early period of President Yoon Suk Yeol’s administration, including former Foreign Minister Park Jin and former National Security Adviser Kim Sung-han, will be a part of the delegation visiting the U.S. soon.

The delegation will attend the 9th Korea-U.S. Strategic Forum hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington on Nov. 18 and 19 to explain Seoul's position on the Korea-U.S. alliance and economic cooperation between the two countries.

The delegation consists of a bipartisan group including Rep. Kim Seok-ki, chairman of the National Assembly’s Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee, and committee secretaries People Power Party (PPP) Rep. Kim Gunn and Democratic Party (DP) Rep. Kim Young-bae, as well as PPP Reps. Kim Hee-jung and Kang Sun-young and DP Reps. Wi Sung-lac, Lee Jae-gang and Cho Jeong-sik.

The delegation is also coordinating meeting schedules with people close to Trump.

As the second Trump administration is set to kick off in January, attention is focused on the people the delegation will meet and what will be discussed between the delegation and Trump’s people.

In particular, Park is said to be close to Sen. Bill Hagerty, who is known as a close associate of Trump, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Reince Priebus, who previously served as the first White House chief of staff in the first Trump administration.

Park will leave Korea ahead of the delegation and give a special lecture on the outlook for Korea-U.S. relations in the aftermath of the U.S. presidential election at George Washington University on Nov. 15.

BY LIM JEONG-WON [lim.jeongwon@joongang.co.kr]