WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – US National Security Advisor Susan Rice and South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se discussed the North Korean nuclear threat and responses to a Middle East Respiratory Syndrome [MERS] outbreak in a meeting in Washington, DC, the White House announced on Tuesday.
“They [Rice, Byung-Se] discussed our joint efforts to counter the North Korean nuclear and missile threat, as well as our expanding cooperation on important global challenges such as climate change and the Global Health Security Agenda,” the release said.
In the meeting on Monday, Rice also offered condolences to the families of victims of a MERS outbreak in South Korea, which health officials in the country said Tuesday had claimed 19 lives. Rice pledged US support to counter the virus, the statement said.
South Korean President Park Geun-hye last week cancelled her visit to the United States amid the MERS outbreak.
The number of confirmed MERS cases in South Korea has reached 154, according to the country’s health ministry.
