SEOUL, NOV 21 – South Korea, the United States (US) and Japan officially launched a secretariat for trilateral cooperation yesterday, after the announcement was made at their leaders’ summit last week, according to South Korea’s Foreign Ministry.
According to the news agency Yonhapthe Tripartite Secretariat was established a few days after the leaders of the three countries announced the plan during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in Peru last Friday.
The establishment of this secretariat is part of the agreement reached between the President of South Korea, Yoon Suk Yeol; US President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida during the Camp David Summit in August last year.
The launch is seen as a concrete step to implement the commitments shared by the three countries, including increasing trilateral coordination to deal with common challenges such as North Korea’s military threat.
The first meeting of the secretariat was held in Seoul, and each country will take turns holding the post of secretary general and managing the secretariat every two years, starting with South Korea, followed by the US and Japan, according to the foreign ministry statement.
In the meeting, the three countries, “assessed the progress of tripartite cooperation since the Camp David Summit and discussed the structure and operational plan of the secretariat.”
The ministry also said South Korea, the US, and Japan will cooperate in various projects covering areas such as security, economy, advanced technology, and people-to-people exchanges.
This initiative aims to institutionalize and foster the continuous development of tripartite cooperation. – Named
