KB News Desk
South Korea, the United States and Japan will hold foreign ministers’ talks in Manila this week to coordinate policy on North Korea and strengthen trilateral security and economic cooperation.
Attention is also focused on whether Seoul and Washington’s top diplomats will hold separate bilateral talks amid a growing list of pending issues.
Foreign Minister Cho Hyun is scheduled to meet US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi on Wednesday on the sidelines of a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations-related ministerial meetings in Manila, the Philippines, according to Seoul’s Foreign Ministry.
The meeting will come about two weeks after the three met on the sidelines of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit in Ankara on July 7.
Seoul is also coordinating separate bilateral meetings with the US, Japan and China, with particular attention focused on whether Cho and Rubio will hold formal one-on-one talks.
Several sensitive issues remain unresolved between Seoul and Washington, including the controversy surrounding Coupang and follow-up measures related to South Korea’s $350 billion investment commitment in the US.
The Coupang issue resurfaced earlier this month after the US House Judiciary Committee released a report accusing the South Korean government of discriminating against the US-owned e-commerce company through regulatory actions. South Korean Ambassador to the US Kang Kyung-wha briefly visited Seoul from July 15-19 for consultations with Foreign Minister Cho Hyun, presidential officials and relevant ministries on pending bilateral issues, including trade, investment and security matters.
The South Korean government is also working with Washington to finalize the first projects under its investment commitment as part of broader efforts to stabilize bilateral relations.
Even if a formal bilateral meeting is not held, officials expect Cho and Rubio will have opportunities for substantive discussions on the sidelines of the trilateral meeting and other multilateral gatherings.
Meanwhile, the three sides are expected to discuss North Korea, trilateral security cooperation, economic security, and regional and global developments, including the conflict in the Middle East, ministry officials said. As the talks take place during ASEAN meetings, regional issues such as the South China Sea are also expected to be discussed.
Asked whether the latest North Korea-Russia coordination would be discussed during the upcoming trilateral meeting, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Park Il said Seoul is closely monitoring recent diplomatic exchanges between Pyongyang and both Moscow and Beijing.
Park noted North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui’s latest visit to Russia and that North Korea and China have also stepped up high-level exchanges in connection with the 65th anniversary of their Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance.
“The government will continue diplomatic efforts to ensure that exchanges between North Korea and Russia, as well as between North Korea and China, contribute to peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and encourage North Korea’s return to dialogue,” he said during a regular press briefing Tuesday.
Park said the three foreign ministers are expected to discuss a broad range of trilateral cooperation issues if they meet in Manila, adding that developments involving North Korea would naturally be high on the agenda.
“Given the growing exchanges between North Korea and Russia and between North Korea and China, the three sides are expected to share information on these developments and exchange views on how to respond effectively,” he said.
Russia’s participation in the ASEAN Regional Forum is also drawing attention, with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov expected to attend the meetings. Officials said Seoul hopes to gauge Moscow’s latest position on North Korea following North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui’s visit to Russia, where she met both President Vladimir Putin and Lavrov.
During their previous meeting in Ankara, the ministers reaffirmed their commitment to the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and agreed to continue pursuing dialogue with Pyongyang. They also signed a memorandum of cooperation establishing a government-level framework to promote the deployment of small modular reactors in third countries, particularly in the Indo-Pacific region.
On the sidelines of the multilateral gatherings, Cho is also scheduled to hold bilateral talks with his counterparts from Australia, Thailand, New Zealand, Brunei and the Philippines.
The ASEAN Regional Forum, the only regional multilateral security forum in which North Korea has traditionally participated, will also convene during the meetings. Pyongyang, however, is widely expected to skip the gathering for a second consecutive year after ending its 25-year streak of participation at last year’s meeting in Malaysia.
Cho is expected to reaffirm Seoul’s commitment to peaceful coexistence and shared prosperity on the Korean Peninsula at the regional forum, while urging North Korea to return to dialogue.
