Photo : YONHAP News
The presidential office expects a trilateral summit of leaders from South Korea, the United States and Japan to take place within this year.
Appearing on a local TV news program on Monday, National Security Adviser Shin Won-sik said talks are under way on whether to hold the meeting on the margins of annual multilateral forums or separately, but that it will highly likely be held before the year’s end.
The top security aide said the three sides are believed to be on the same page on enhancing security and other cooperation and that such a trend will not be different following any political or leadership change among the countries.
Asked about the North’s possible seventh nuclear test, Shin said there is a good chance that it could occur, including around the time of the U.S. presidential election on November 5.
Regarding former Presidential Chief of Staff Im Jong-seok’s proposal for the two Koreas to be accepted as distinct countries, Shin said such “anti-constitutional” argument in agreement with the North’s claims is regrettable and dangerous.
Pledging that the administration will continue to seek a peaceful unification based on the free democratic basic order, Shin said it anticipates Pyongyang’s sincere response to President Yoon Suk Yeol’s “August 15 Unification Doctrine.”