Interatomic potentials for Mg–Zn binary system has been developed on the basis of the second nearest-neighbor modified embedded-atom method formalism. The potential reproduce the alloy behavior (thermodynamic, structural, and elastic properties of compounds and solution phases) of Mg-Zn alloys well in good agreement with experiments, first-principles and CALPHAD. In the original paper (Jang et al, Calphad, 60, 2018), the applicability of the developed potentials to atom-scale investigations on the slip behavior of Mg-Zn alloys is also demonstrated by showing that the calculated effects of Zn on the general stacking fault energy on the basal, prismatic and pyramidal planes are consistent with first-principles calculations.