South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun will meet U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington on the 18th, as a series of diplomatic and policy developments tests whether Seoul and Washington can break an impasse over economic and security issues. Cho will visit Washington from Thursday through Saturday for his first formal bilateral meeting with Rubio, with discussions expected to cover bilateral ties, the Korean Peninsula, and regional and global affairs. The talks come as the two sides near an agreement on a $350 billion U.S. investment package that has been delayed for nearly a year, while a parliamentary briefing on its first project was postponed from the 17th to around the 22nd. South Korea's National Security Council standing committee is expected to review options for supporting efforts related to the Strait of Hormuz, but a deployment decision will not be placed on its formal agenda. Possible contributions include a limited force centered on maritime patrol aircraft, explosive ordnance disposal teams and unmanned equipment. Other unresolved matters include follow-up measures from the leaders' summit, the Coupang dispute, revisions to the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection, religious issues, and stalled cooperation on nuclear energy and nuclear-powered submarines. President Donald Trump has increased pressure after saying on the 14th that countries that had not helped the United States would have to pay reparations after the war. President Lee Jae-myung is expected to attend the U.N. General Assembly, which opens in New York on the 22nd, where an informal meeting with Trump is possible.