10-Minute Chat Among South Korea-US-Japan Leaders... Biden Says "Thanks to Yoon and Kishida, Mission Burden Lightened"

Meeting in San Francisco, USA, Host of APEC Summit
Yoon "Positively Evaluates Korea-US-Japan Cooperation"

President Yoon Suk-yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida met with U.S. President Joe Biden, who expressed his gratitude, saying, "As the President of the United States, I was able to greatly lighten my burden in carrying out my duties thanks to President Yoon and Prime Minister Kishida."

President Biden made these remarks on the 16th (local time) during a trilateral summit with the leaders of South Korea, the U.S., and Japan held in San Francisco, USA, where the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit was taking place, according to Kim Tae-hyo, First Deputy Director of the National Security Office, who briefed the press at the local press center.

This was the first meeting of the South Korea-U.S.-Japan leaders in three months since the trilateral summit held at Camp David, USA, on August 18.

President Yoon, President Biden, and Prime Minister Kishida took commemorative photos separately from the APEC meeting, and it is reported that they had a private conversation for about 10 minutes afterward.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

According to a presidential office official, during the private conversation, President Yoon also said, "I positively evaluate the South Korea-U.S.-Japan cooperation," and added, "The U.S. and Japanese leaders share the philosophy and belief regarding the correlation between security and the economy (that I hold)."

The official mentioned regarding the discussion content of the trilateral summit, "The three leaders commonly expressed satisfaction that the comprehensive trilateral cooperative framework established at Camp David, USA, last August has been successfully maintained, and that the high-level trilateral dialogue channels to implement this are actively operating."

The official continued, "What the three leaders implicitly agree on is that security and economic cooperation are two sides of the same coin," adding, "Partners for advanced technology cooperation must be nearly 100% trustworthy militarily, as well as in political systems, ideology, and values, and the three leaders believe that such a relationship exists among South Korea, the U.S., and Japan."