S.KOREA, U.S. SEEK DEAL ON TARIFFS BEFORE JULY DEADLINE

Welcome to Press Perspective for this Friday April 25th here in Seoul.

I'm Min Sun-hee.

Top South Korean finance and trade officials sat down with their U.S. counterparts for talks on tariffs in Washington D.C. on Thursday local time and for details on those discussions and more I have Ruy Valdes with Spanish news agency EFE Spain.

Ruy welcome back.

I also have Professor Oh Joon-seok at Sookmyung Women's University joining this session virtually.

Professor Oh it's a pleasure.

1) Ruy, let's begin with details about the two-plus-two meeting between South Korea and the U.S. in Washington D.C.

2) Professor Oh, what are your takeaways from the two-plus-two meeting ?

3) And Ruy, what has been the response to this latest meeting between the two countries? I mean, prior to the meeting, acting President Han Duck-soo had spoken about a win-win solution on tariffs and trade.

4) Professor Oh, what would you highlight as three immediate tasks for South Korea following these latest talks ?

5-1) Ruy, ahead of these talks, the International Monetary Fund shared some pessimistic projections about the global economy for this year. Walk us through the IMF's latest growth outlooks.

5-2) And Ruy, findings back on Thursday show the Korean economy contracted in the first quarter of this year. What are pundits saying about the causes of this contraction?

6) Professor Oh, also regarding the Korean economy. Exports during the first twenty days of April fell on year. Do share details about this decline with us, and is this trend likely to continue? And if so, what can South Korea do to ease it?

7) Ruy, moving forward. A number of foreign media outlets are citing a Korean daily for its report about China asking at least two South Korean transformer manufacturers not to supply products containing Chinese-sourced rare earth metals to U.S. defense companies. Do tell us more.

8) Professor Oh, how should South Korea seek to respond to the rivalry between the U.S. and China?

All right.