The heads of The United States, Japan and South Korea –Joe Biden, Fumio Kishida and Yoon Suk Yeol– met this Sunday in Japan and they have agreed this Sunday to raise trilateral cooperation “to a new level” to thus reinforce deterrence against North Korea.
“They have agreed to develop trilateral cooperation to a new level”explained a spokesman for the South Korean Presidency, Lee Do Woon, quoted by the South Korean news agency Yonhap.
Lee stressed that the relationship is based on strategic cooperation to strengthen deterrence against North Korea’s nuclear threat and the reinforcement of a free and open international order based on international rules.
This Sunday they have agreed to deepen cooperation in various areas such as missile detection, the Indo-Pacific strategy, economic security and commitment to the Pacific island countries, Lee stressed.
The three leaders already met in November in Cambodia and then agreed to share missile detection alert information in real time in view of the development of the North Korean nuclear and ballistic program.
Yoon, Kishida and Biden have met taking advantage of their visit to Hiroshima, where the G7 summit is being held this weekend, and the strengthening of bilateral relations between South Korea and Japan after Kishida’s visits to Seoul in March and May .
CLOSER BETWEEN SEOUL AND TOKYO
This rapprochement between Seoul and Tokyo has also facilitated what is the first joint visit by Kishida and Yoon to the memorial for the Korean victims of the 1945 nuclear bombing of Hiroshima. Yoon, Kishida and their wives have visited this symbolic place in an “important act” for the bilateral relationship in Kishida’s words. “It is a true indicator of progress in the relationship between Japan and South Korea,” Kishida stressed.
It is estimated that some 70,000 Koreans were victims of the nuclear explosions in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, of whom 40,000 died. Estimates of total fatalities are between 129,000 and 226,000. Acknowledging these victims is a “courageous” act on Kishida’s part, in Yoon’s words.
Yoon and Kishida have also held a bilateral meeting in which they have reiterated their willingness to maintain a close bilateral and trilateral relationship with the United States in the face of North Korea’s “provocations”, such as the launch of test projectiles on Japan.
The South Korean leader also highlighted the importance of Kishida’s words, who on his last visit to Seoul claimed to feel “heartache” from the consequences of the Japanese occupation of Korea prior to World War II. For Yoon these are words that “have resonated with many South Koreans.”
(with information from EP)
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Source-www.infobae.com