South Korea’s new ambassador to the United States, Choi Young-jin, says he will work hard to fine-tune the South Korea-U.S. alliance to upgrade the relations.

Choi made the remark during a meeting with South Korean correspondents in Washington on Wednesday. He stressed that managing the South Korea-U.S. alliance in a comprehensive way is directly related to South Korea’s national interests.

The ambassador said that at the beginning the focus of the South Korea-U.S. alliance was security. But he said that with the adoption of the South Korea-U.S. free trade agreement, the alliance has also come to hold significance in terms of economy and trade.

However, Choi stressed that by saying he will fine-tune the alliance, he is not implying that there are problems in the alliance but rather is seeking to make the ties stronger and make it more future-oriented.