Cheong Wa Dae suggests G-20 teleconference to Trump

SEOUL, March 15 (Yonhap) -- The office of President Moon Jae-in made a formal suggestion to the White House on Sunday that the Group of 20 (G-20) nations hold a summit by video conference on the COVID-19 crisis, according to Cheong Wa Dae. Speaking by phone with U.S. National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien, Chung Eui-yong, director of national security at Cheong Wa Dae, asked him to convey the proposal to President Donald Trump. The South Korean president put forward the idea during his phone talks with France's President Emmanuel Macron on Friday, stressing the need for international cooperation on health care, hygiene and finance at the G-20 level. Chung informed O'Brien of the discussions between the leaders of South Korea and France and asked him to convey Moon's suggestion to Trump, Cheong Wa Dae said in a press release. O'Brien called it a "very good" offer, adding there would be "active consideration" of the possibility of Trump discussing the issue at next week's teleconference among the leaders of the Group of Seven (G-7). Cheong Wa Dae said the Moon administration plans to cooperate with the member states of the G-20 for the proposed session. If held, it is expected to be an opportunity to share South Korea's quarantine measures and other responses to the spread of the new coronavirus, as well as the results of clinical tests, and consult on ways to ride out a global economic crisis arising from the pandemic, it added. The government is also pushing for a meeting with the other members of the ASEAN Plus Three group, which also includes China and Japan, by video conference, on the COVID-19 incident. Chung and O'Brien agreed on close cooperation between Seoul and Washington on the fight against the virus, exchanging relevant information. "The U.S. evaluated our effective and swift response measures very highly," Cheong Wa Dae said. It did not reveal whether the top security officials had talked about such alliance issues as splitting the cost of running U.S. Forces Korea. sooyeon@yna.co.kr lcd@yyna.co.kr (END)