Moon plans to hold bilateral meetings at APEC

In this July 11 file photo, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs David Stilwell arrives at Narita International Airport outside of Tokyo. AP-Yonhap

By Kim Yoo-chul

Preparatory works are underway for President Moon Jae-in to hold summits with “important counterparts” on the sidelines of his participation at next month's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) gathering in Chile, Cheong Wa Dae said Monday.

In a briefing, Cheong Wa Dae spokesperson Ko Min-jung confirmed the South Korean leader will attend this year's gathering. “From Nov. 15 to 17, President Moon will visit Santiago, Chile, as the President will participate in this year's APEC meeting,” Ko told reporters.

“In the meantime, preparatory works are underway for President Moon to hold several bilateral summits with leaders of important allied nations,” the presidential said in the briefing without elaborating further.

Key highlights of Moon's summits in Chile are expected to include face-to-face meetings with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and U.S. President Donald Trump, as South Korea is asked to maintain its military intelligence-sharing pact with Japan, known as GSOMIA, before its renewal deadline.

“We are widely open to hold bilateral summits as best as we can during the APEC gathering. But there's nothing I can say about which specific countries South Korea is meeting for a bilateral summit,” another presidential aide told reporters.

South Korea announced a decision in August to scrap the GSOMIA with Japan amid frayed bilateral ties over history and trade issues. The accord is set to expire on Nov. 22. Seoul said the decision was its response after Tokyo imposed trade controls on industrial materials crucial to South Korea's key manufacturing industries and added the termination of GSOMIA has no relation to last year's South Korean Supreme Court ruling ordering Japanese firms to compensate surviving South Korean victims of wartime forced labor.

South Korean Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon delivered President Moon's personal message recently to Abe. Abe reiterated Tokyo's position asking Seoul to keep the 1965 treaty intact no matter what, but agreed on the need to improve bilateral ties.

“If President Moon holds a summit with Abe or a trilateral summit with Trump as well during APEC, that will be a good plus in terms of highlighting the trilateral security cooperation with the United States benefiting the most as Washington's key focus is how to proceed with its Indo-Pacific Strategy with the help of Seoul and Tokyo to cut the growing emergence of China in the Asia-Pacific region,” another presidential aide told The Korea Times by telephone.

Presidential spokesperson Ko added President Moon will also visit Thailand for three days from Nov. 3 to participate in summits with political leaders in the Southeast Asian country.