Foreign ministers of the United States, South Korea and Japan agreed to finalize the establishment of a trilateral cooperation secretariat, while pushing for a leaders’ summit this year, said a U.S. State Department spokesperson.
The three countries have been working on establishing the secretariat to maintain forward momentum for their growing cooperation on security, technology and other areas.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken, South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul and Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa met on the margins of the U.N. General Assembly in New York on Monday, reiterating their efforts to “institutionalize” the three-way partnership.
“They concluded by reaffirming our shared commitment to creating the U.S.-Japan-ROK Trilateral Secretariat, to be finalized by the three leaders when they meet before the end of the year,” said Matthew Miller, referring to South Korea by its official name, the Republic of Korea.
“This step will help institutionalize this crucial partnership into the future,” he added.
Blinken, Cho and Kamikawa also discussed the need for close coordination to respond to deepening military cooperation between North Korea and Russia, which they believe threatens stability in both Northeast Asia and Europe, said Miller.
South Korea’s foreign ministry said on Tuesday that the trio agreed to continue close coordination to lead efforts to implement U.N. Security Council resolutions while responding sternly to any provocations from the North.
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Apart from that, the three ministers affirmed “strong opposition” to any unilateral attempts to change the status quo in the Indo-Pacific, and reiterated the importance of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait as an “indispensable” element of security and prosperity in the international community, according to Miller.
“The security environment surrounding us is becoming increasingly severe, and the free and open international order based on the rule of law is facing serious challenges, and that is making our strategic collaboration more important than ever,” said Kamikawa, who underscored the importance of trilateral security cooperation in the midst of regional and global security challenges.
“We would like to further strengthen our coordination in dealing with North Korea and in a wide range of fields.”
Separately, Blinken said that trilateral cooperation would remain crucial regardless of leadership changes in the U.S. and Japan.
“We have political transitions in Japan and the United States, but this trilat, irrespective of those transitions, will remain vital to the future of all three of our countries – a future that we are working to shape together,” he said, referring to the trilateral alliance.
Edited by Mike Firn.