Cathy Patel. Yonhap News

FBI Director Cathy Patel visited South Korea shortly after U.S. President Donald Trump's trip to the country.

According to an official press release issued by the FBI on November 17 (local time), Director Patel visited Seoul, South Korea, and Beijing, China, following a trip to Tokyo, Japan, earlier this month, to support frontline operations worldwide and strengthen inter-agency partnerships.

This visit occurred immediately after U.S. President Trump's visit to South Korea to attend the APEC summit. The FBI stated that Director Patel focused on discussions regarding specific ways to more collaboratively work with law enforcement and intelligence partners in the three East Asian countries.

According to News & Post (NNP), the FBI explained, "This is part of an ongoing effort to support frontline operations worldwide and strengthen inter-agency partnerships. Discussions focused on practical ways to work more closely with law enforcement and intelligence partners in the region."

During his visit to Tokyo, Director Patel met with Yoshinobu Kusunoki, the Superintendent General of the National Police Agency of Japan, along with Ambassador George Glass, to discuss strengthening law enforcement cooperation in key areas such as cybercrime and transnational organized crime, and exploring future areas of collaboration. Director Patel also proposed additional training opportunities at FBI facilities in Huntsville and Quantico to continue sharing information and expertise with these key partner agencies.

During his visit to Seoul, Director Patel met with Park Seong-ju, Head of the National Investigation Headquarters of the Korean National Police Agency (KNPA), and reaffirmed the important cooperative relationship between the FBI and the KNPA. Director Patel and Commissioner Park discussed mutual priority areas for cooperation, including defeating cyberactors and preventing the proliferation of scam centers in the region.

During his visit to Beijing, Director Patel met with Xu Datong, Vice Minister of Public Security, to discuss law enforcement issues and follow up on key outcomes from the meeting between President Trump and President Xi Jinping held in Busan on the 30th of last month.

In his meeting with Vice Minister Xu, Director Patel discussed China's commitment to take concrete steps to save American lives by intercepting the flow of dangerous chemicals fueling the fentanyl crisis. Director Patel also discussed expanding law enforcement cooperation in several areas, including cracking down on criminal organizations that have stolen billions of dollars from U.S. and Chinese victims through cyber and phone scams, combating online child predators, countering international money laundering, and ensuring the prosecution of violent offenders.

The FBI also added that during this tour, Director Patel met with FBI agents, U.S. military personnel, and staff from the U.S. Embassy in China to receive briefings on their respective Areas of Responsibility (AOR) and hear about the impactful work they are conducting in those regions.

Editorial Department, Hanmiilbo