US White House Official: "Trilateral Summit Among South Korea, US, and Japan Planned Within This Year"

A White House official mentioned the possibility of holding a trilateral summit among South Korea, the United States, and Japan within this year.

Mira Rapp-Hooper, Senior Director for Asia-Pacific at the White House National Security Council (NSC), said on the 15th (local time) during a discussion at the Hudson Institute titled "One Year After the Camp David Summit," "We will continue to build this relationship as a long-term strategic partnership," adding, "This includes holding a trilateral summit before the end of this year."

The leaders of South Korea, the United States, and Japan met last August at Camp David, the U.S. president’s retreat, where they agreed to expand comprehensive cooperation including strengthening extended deterrence in the region and economic security, with North Korea issues as a key focus. They also agreed to hold a summit once a year. However, U.S. President Joe Biden withdrew from the Democratic presidential race ahead of the November election, and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida recently announced he will not seek re-election ahead of the Liberal Democratic Party leadership election next month.

Regarding Prime Minister Kishida’s decision not to run, Rapp-Hooper said, "Political changes are inevitable, but all three countries are vibrant democracies," adding, "We focused on institutionalizing trilateral cooperation last year and believe it will endure long-term changes."

Additionally, Rapp-Hooper reaffirmed that North Korea remains central to trilateral cooperation among South Korea, the United States, and Japan, expressing repeated concerns about the close ties between North Korea and Russia. He stated, "This has profound implications not only for the Korean Peninsula but for the entire Indo-Pacific region," and added, "We are reviewing new sanctions targeting organizations and individuals supporting arms transactions that violate UN Security Council resolutions, and we are also cooperating on other measures beyond sanctions to disrupt such relationships."

Furthermore, he said, "North Korea remains a traditional focus of trilateral efforts even amid heightened tensions in South Korea-Japan relations," and predicted, "While there is no doubt that North Korea is central to trilateral cooperation amid increasing threats, cooperation can also expand into broad areas including the South China Sea issue, economic security, and advanced technology."

In response to questions about the possibility of dialogue with North Korea, he confirmed the existing stance, saying, "All three countries are discussing engagement strategies with North Korea, but unfortunately, North Korea has not responded to these invitations for dialogue," adding, "The Biden administration has sought through various channels from the outset to meet North Korea anytime and anywhere without preconditions, but has only been rejected." He continued, "Although our focus is on North Korea’s illicit weapons systems and denuclearization, we remain ready to meet at any time on various topics without preconditions," and added, "We hope North Korea will meet with at least one of the three countries at some point."