YOON RETURNS FROM NATO SUMMIT

[Anchor Lead]

President Yoon Suk-yeol arrived home today after building a network of solidarity for international cooperation in response to North Korean nuclear threats at the North-Atlantic Treaty Organization Summit. The South Korean president's office added that trilateral collaboration among South Korea, the United States and Japan has been restored and economic and security cooperation strengthened. Now the issue is how to deal with the objections anticipated from China and Russia.

[Pkg]

President Yoon Suk-yeol arrived home today after a five-day overseas trip to attend the NATO Summit where the trilateral summit with his American and Japanese counterparts also took place. President Yoon met with leaders of several nations to talk about the North Korean nuclear issues and economic cooperation. The leaders of South Korea, the United States, and Japan who met for the first time in four years and nine months focused on restoring trilateral cooperation to counter North Korea's nuclear and missile threats.

[Soundbite] Yoon Suk-yeol(President) : "Trilateral cooperation is expected to serve as a major axis for world peace and stability."

[Soundbite] Joe Biden(U.S. President)

The South Korean presidential office explains that the three leaders did not talk about toughening the sanctions against North Korea at the summit, but they are ready to expand sanctions against North Korean figures and agencies. They also discussed the United States providing more deterrence against expansion and the ROK-U.S. military response plans against DPRK's additional provocations. During his address at the NATO Summit, President Yoon called for more attention from the international community on the denuclearization of North Korea. He added that freedom and peace can only be ensured by international alliance and vowed to work closely with NATO member nations.

[Soundbite] Kim Tae-hyo(First Deputy Dir., Nat'l Security Office) : "The big goals were to form solidarity of values standards, strengthen new security cooperation and build a global network. I believe the goals have been met."

However, President Yoon's plan of bringing change in North Korea by pressuring the regime through international cooperation must find a way to overcome objections from China and Russia.