President Yoon Suk Yeol will hold a trilateral summit with U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at Camp David, near Washington, on Aug. 18, sources said Thursday.
The three leaders are expected to discuss ways to strengthen deterrence against North Korea's nuclear and missile threats during the summit at the U.S. presidential retreat in Maryland.
The presidential office acknowledged in a notice to reporters that the summit will take place in the U.S. "sometime in August," but added the exact date and place will be announced soon following coordination between the three sides.
North Korea's nuclear program has taken on new urgency as the recalcitrant regime has ramped up its weapons testing, including the launch of a solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile last week.
Biden proposed the trilateral summit when the three leaders met on the sidelines of a Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima, Japan, in May.
South Korea's presidential office said at the time that the leaders agreed to develop three-way cooperation to a "new level," further strengthen strategic cooperation against North Korea's nuclear threat, and reinforce the free and open international order based on the rule of law.
At Camp David, the three leaders are expected to check progress on their agreement during a trilateral summit in Cambodia in November to share North Korean missile warning data in real time.
Other topics they are likely to address are supply chain issues and their response to the ongoing war in Ukraine.
This will be the first time the three leaders will meet solely for the purpose of a trilateral summit, not on the margins of a multilateral gathering.
It will also come four months after Yoon visited Washington on a state visit marking the 70th anniversary of the South Korea-U.S. alliance.
Source: Yonhap News Agency