Top diplomats of S. Korea, US, Japan to meet in Manila this week

From right, South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Japanese Foreign Minister Motegi Toshimitsu pose with a memorandum of cooperation on small modular reactors during a trilateral meeting on the sidelines of the NATO leaders' summit in Ankara, Turkey, July 7. AP-Yonhap

The top diplomats of South Korea, the United States and Japan will meet in Manila this week to discuss coordination on North Korea and enhance three-way economic and security cooperation, Seoul's foreign ministry said Monday.

Foreign Minister Cho Hyun is scheduled to meet with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi on Wednesday on the sidelines of a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-related ministerial meetings in the Philippine capital, according to the ministry.

The upcoming meeting will come about two weeks after the three ministers held talks on the sidelines of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit in Ankara on July 7.

The three sides are expected to discuss issues on North Korea, ways to enhance trilateral security cooperation and economic ties, and the Middle East crisis and other regional and global developments, according to ministry officials.

During their trilateral meeting earlier this month, the ministers reaffirmed their commitment to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and vowed to continue efforts to pursue dialogue with Pyongyang.

The three countries also signed a memorandum of cooperation (MOC) to establish a framework for cooperation on accelerating the deployment of small modular reactors (SMRs) in third countries, particularly in the Indo-Pacific region.

Cho is scheduled to make a two-day visit to the Philippines starting Tuesday to attend a series of ASEAN-related meetings — the Korea-ASEAN foreign ministers' meeting, the ASEAN Plus Three ministerial meeting involving South Korea, Japan and China, the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) foreign ministers' meeting and the East Asia Summit (EAS) foreign ministers' meeting.

During the meetings, Cho is expected to reaffirm Seoul's commitment to strengthening cooperation with ASEAN and explain the Seoul government's efforts to promote peaceful coexistence and shared prosperity on the Korean Peninsula.

On the sidelines of the multilateral gatherings, Cho also plans to hold bilateral talks with his counterparts from Australia, Thailand, New Zealand, Brunei and the Philippines.

Seoul is also coordinating separate bilateral talks with the U.S., Japan and China on the fringes of the meetings, the officials said.