Photo : YONHAP News
U.S. President Joe Biden has proposed holding a trilateral summit with the leaders of South Korea and Japan within this year.
According to a high-ranking official at Seoul’s presidential office on Saturday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken made the proposal to President Yoon Suk Yeol during a dinner hosted by the prime minister of Laos at the ASEAN summit on Thursday.
The official said Biden had suggested the summit this year, carrying on the spirit of the Camp David Declaration last August.
President Yoon, in response, pledged to continue their close communication, anticipating an opportunity for the three-way discussion before the end of the year.
The presidential official said Seoul understood the proposal to be Washington’s call for the three sides to continue their security cooperation regardless of a recent leadership change in Japan and the outcome of the upcoming U.S. presidential election.
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell is scheduled to visit South Korea and Japan next week for a trilateral discussion, where talks are set to take place regarding the three-way summit being held on the margins of next month’s APEC and G20 summits.