President Yoon Suk Yeol departed for the United States on Thursday to attend a trilateral summit with U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on ways to enhance security cooperation in the face of North Korea's nuclear threat.
The summit will be held at the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland on Friday, marking the first time the three countries' leaders will meet for a stand-alone trilateral summit that's not on the sidelines of a multilateral event.
The summit was proposed by Biden when the three leaders met on the margins of a Group of Seven summit in Japan in May as the U.S. pushes to lock in recently improved Seoul-Tokyo ties in a trilateral framework countering China and Russia's growing assertiveness.
As such, cooperation on economic security issues, such as building resilient supply chains for semiconductors and batteries, is also expected to feature high on the agenda.
"Through the upcoming South Korea-U.S.-Japan summit, Camp David will be recorded as the site of 21st century diplomatic history that opened a new chapter in trilateral cooperation," Principal Deputy National Security Adviser Kim Tae-hyo told reporters Sunday. "Trilateral consultations among South Korea, the U.S. and Japan will gain a clear independent identity as an Indo-Pacific cooperation body."
Kim said the summit will help the countries create and institutionalize a "key framework" for trilateral cooperation in the future, while also allowing the leaders to discuss a common vision and basic principles for trilateral cooperation and build comprehensive and multilayered cooperation mechanisms across diverse sectors at every level.
The three leaders plan to adopt two documents -- the "Camp David Principles" and the "Spirit of Camp David" -- with the first one containing sustainable guidelines for trilateral cooperation going forward, and the second outlining their vision for trilateral cooperation and its implementation plan.
"Under Principles, the leaders of the three countries will state their principle of strengthening cooperation for peace and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region, including on the Korean Peninsula, among ASEAN states and Indo-Pacific island nations, and across the globe, based on their common values and rules," Kim said in a separate briefing Thursday, referring to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
The Spirit of Camp David will be a joint statement outlining concrete measures to enhance trilateral cooperation through the establishment of a new consultation body and cooperation on extended deterrence, combined military exercises and economic security, he said.
A third document is currently under discussion but has yet to be finalized, he added.
In addition to the trilateral summit, Yoon will hold bilateral meetings with Biden and Kishida on Friday, Kim said. The three leaders will also have lunch together and hold a joint press conference.
In a speech commemorating Korea's independence from Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule Tuesday, Yoon touted the upcoming summit as one that will "set a new milestone in trilateral cooperation, contributing to peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula and in the Indo-Pacific region."
Meanwhile, in an interview with Bloomberg published Wednesday, he said he expects to see agreement on ways to enhance the three countries' capabilities to respond to North Korea's nuclear and missile threats, including through the possible increase of trilateral defense exercises.
He also said the three countries will work to operationalize their sharing of missile warning data on North Korea in real time within this year.
Yoon will depart the U.S. on Friday evening to return home.
First lady Kim Keon Hee is not accompanying him on the trip to the U.S., which came only hours after the funeral of Yoon's father.
Source: Yonhap News Agency