Positive views growing for annual 3-way summit between S. Korea, US, Japan

By Nam Hyun-woo

Seoul, Washington and Tokyo are having “positive views” on holding their trilateral summit annually, and tangible outcomes can be expected from the upcoming three-way summit scheduled for Aug. 18, South Korea's National Security Director Cho Tae-yong said Friday.

“The three-way summit is a massive diplomatic meeting bearing extra significances,” Cho told reporters at Incheon International Airport before departing for Saudi Arabia to meet with other national security advisers this weekend for multilateral peace talks for Ukraine.

“Amid growing uncertainties in the Indo-Pacific, the leaders of the three nations are set to meet at Camp David for focused discussions for the purpose of pursuing sustainable peace, rules-based order and prosperity, because the three countries can play a pivotal role and have the capability for those objectives.”

President Yoon Suk Yeol will meet U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at the U.S. presidential retreat on Aug. 18. They are anticipated to talk about trilateral cooperation in countering North Korea's missile and nuclear threats, international security and economic matters.

So far, there have been many cases of the three countries' leaders having trilateral summits on the sidelines of multilateral diplomatic events, but it will be the first time for the leaders to gather for the purpose of having three-way talks.

“The leaders will discuss missile defense cooperation, including a program for sharing information on North Korea's missile launches,” Cho said.

Regarding speculations that the three countries will set up hotlines between their leaders, Cho said “there will be discussions on ways to improve the three countries' communication, but it isn't going to be described as hotlines.”

He denied the Financial Times' earlier reporting that the U.S. wants South Korea and Japan to agree that each nation has a duty to consult the others in the event of an attack, saying “it isn't correct” and “there would not be such expression.”

Cho also denied a report that the U.S. would consider deploying around 5,000 U.S. Forces Korea personnel to Taiwan in case of conflict, calling the claim “groundless.”