As the three countries expand their military cooperation to face North Korea’s escalating nuclear threats, South Korean, US, and Japanese leaders will meet in America in August, Seoul’s presidential office announced on Thursday.
As negotiation stalls and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un calls for accelerated weapons development, including tactical nukes, relations between Pyongyang and Seoul have never been worse.
In an effort to control North Korea, President Yoon Suk Yeol has responded by bringing South Korea closer to longtime ally Washington and even attempting to mend fences with former colonial power Japan.
Seoul and Washington declared in April that Pyongyang would face a nuclear retaliation and the “end” of its dictatorship if it ever deployed its nuclear weapons against the allies.
“The Korea-US-Japan trilateral summit is scheduled to be held in the United States in August,” Seoul’s presidential office said Thursday, adding the specific date and location would be “announced later”.
According to unnamed sources cited by the Yonhap News Agency, the meeting would take place on August 18 at Camp David close to Washington.
Days have passed since Seoul and Washington met in the South Korean capital for the inaugural Nuclear Consultative Group meeting.
For the first time since 1981, an American nuclear-armed submarine docked in Busan on Tuesday.
Last week, Pyongyang claimed to have conducted a second successful test of its latest solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile, the Hwasong-18.
According to analysts, the tests mark a significant advancement for North Korea’s restricted weapons programs.
A US soldier who had been imprisoned in the South on assault charges is believed to have been detained by North Korea after crossing the border, according to Washington, which also confirmed this on Tuesday.
American citizens have long been imprisoned by Pyongyang and used as bargaining chips.
