Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Kang Insun attended the Fourth International Conference on Nuclear Security (ICONS), held in Vienna, Austria, from 20 to 24 May 2024. On this occasion, Vice Minister Kang held meetings with David Turk, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Energy, and Andrew Bowie, UK Minister for Nuclear and Renewables, to exchange views on cooperation in nuclear security and the nuclear energy sector.

In the May 21 meeting with U.S. Deputy Secretary Turk, both sides appreciated the active cooperation between the ROK and the U.S. in the field of nuclear security. They also agreed on the importance of ROK-U.S. nuclear cooperation and expressed their willingness to continue their dialogue in this field.

In a separate meeting on May 20 with UK Minister for Nuclear and Renewables Bowie, Vice Minister Kang and Minister Bowie discussed the current status of bilateral cooperation in the nuclear power plant and Small Modular Reactor (SMR) sectors. The UK side shared their policies and efforts to strengthen the UK nuclear power sector, and both sides agreed to bolster ROK-U.K. cooperation in areas such as nuclear fuel, the nuclear industry, and SMRs.