Trilateral summit of S. Korea, Japan, U.S. to further strengthen cooperation: Amb. Cho

The upcoming three-way summit between the leaders of South Korea, Japan and the United States will highlight strong cooperation between the three countries with a chance to further strengthen their relationships, South Korea’s ambassador to the U.S. said Monday.

Amb. Cho Hyun-dong also noted that the venue for the proposed summit underscores the emphasis U.S. President Joe Biden places on the trilateral cooperation.

The White House earlier announced that President Biden will host his South Korean counterpart, Yoon Suk Yeol, and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at Camp David on Aug. 18.

“It will be first summit meeting to be held at Camp David since President Joe Biden took office,” Cho said while meeting with reporters in Washington.

“This shows how much President Biden thinks of his relationship with our president, U.S.-South Korea relations and trilateral relations between South Korea, the U.S. and Japan,” the South Korean diplomat added.

Yoon and Kishida will be the first foreign leaders to visit the U.S. presidential retreat since 2015, the White House said earlier.

Cho underscored that the upcoming summit will also be the first “stand alone” trilateral summit, as the three leaders had only met on the margins of other international or regional gatherings in the past.

The South Korean ambassador explained that Seoul has been playing a leading role in improving trilateral relations.

“We were able to upgrade South Korea-U.S.-Japan cooperation to the next level due to our efforts,” he said. “We plan to do our best to make sure the first standalone South Korea-U.S.-Japan summit meeting will be held without any problem.”

The ambassador also hailed the launch of the Nuclear Consultative Group (NCG), which held its inaugural meeting in Seoul on July 18.

“South Korea and the U.S. have been working to implement the Washington Declaration and as an important outcome of such efforts, the NCG was launched,” he said.

“The countries established the structural and procedural foundation for their first permanent consultative body on nuclear-related issues and discussed key issues such as consultation process in case of a crisis,” added Cho.