She returned to South Korea after a six-day visit to Washington and New York for meetings with US officials, lawmakers and scholars, as well as to attend various events.

"Also, I saw that the United States is firm with the Seoul-Washington alliance and will keep a security priority about South Korea under any circumstances," she added.

For the upcoming negotiations to amend the bilateral free trade agreement, Choo said she has called for the fair assessment of the deal before launching the talks.

"I stressed that both sides have to conduct a study on the bilateral trade pact and go to the negotiation table based on fair and reasonable arguments," she said. "I also asked them to seek win-win solutions for both countries."

Seoul and Washington recently began domestic procedures to amend the five-year-old free trade agreement, known as KORUS, due to President Donald Trump's insistence it has widened the US trade deficit with South Korea. (Yonhap)