Korean embassy in Brussels will be mission to NATO too

President Yoon Suk-yeol, left, meets NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Madrid last June 30. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

NATO approved Korea’s request to designate Seoul’s Embassy in Belgium as its permanent mission to the organization.

“The Republic of Korea is an active NATO partner,” said the North Atlantic Council on its website. “Since 2005, the Alliance and Seoul have developed a strong partnership, based on shared values.”

The announcement followed the first participation by a Korean president at a Nato summit in June, with the leaders of Japan, Australia and New Zealand. Korea and NATO began an official dialogue in 2005.

Korea’s ambassador to Belgium, Yoon Soon-gu, will also serve as ambassador to NATO, according to the Foreign Ministry.

Other non-NATO members in the Indo-Pacific regions have permanent missions to the organization, including Japan, whose request to designate its embassy in Brussels as its mission to NATO was accepted in 2018. Japan has recently begun the process of setting up a separate diplomatic mission to NATO with its own ambassador.

Australia and New Zealand also have designated their embassies in Brussels as their permanent missions to NATO.

Countries that are not members of NATO but with permanent missions to the organization are able send ambassadors to formal and informal meetings if they are open to non-members.

Korea’s special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs, Kim Gunn, joined one such meeting in Brussels on Tuesday, the North Atlantic Council plus-four meeting.

The council, the political decision-making body of NATO, hosts the meeting regularly with representatives of Korea, Japan, Australia and New Zealand, to discuss security in the Indo-Pacific region, including on the Korean Peninsula.

The meeting on Tuesday, chaired by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, also included Finland and Sweden, approved for accession to NATO last month.

Kim briefed participants on North Korea's new law allowing the country to retaliate to any attack on the nation with a nuclear strike.

The council and its plus-four members expressed concern about growing North Korean threats in the region, according to Korea’s Foreign Ministry.

“The possibility of a seventh nuclear test by North Korea was also addressed in the meeting,” the ministry said in its statement on Wednesday. “The Korean government was able to reaffirm NATO's support for the South Korean government's North Korea policy.”

BY ESTHER CHUNG [chung.juhee@joongang.co.kr]