Yoon, Biden, Kishida likely to discuss establishing ‘hotline’ at summit

Aug 04, 2023, 07:18 am

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South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida greet each other ahead of their trilateral talks in Hiroshima, Japan, on May 21, 2023./ Source: Yonhap News

AsiaToday reporter Hong Sun-mi

South Korea, the U.S., and Japan are expected to discuss ways to establish a hotline between the leaders of the three sides at the upcoming trilateral summit to be held at Camp David on Aug. 18.

Considering that the leaders of the three countries can communicate each other at any time directly from their offices, communication between them is expected to improve dramatically once the hotline is established.

“We are currently coordinating what will be discussed and what will be included at the upcoming Korea-U.S.-Japan summit,” an official from the presidential office said, adding, “We are not in the stage of mentioning.”

Analysts say that with the upcoming trilateral summit, opening a hotline could be the first step as security cooperation between South Korea and the U.S. is expected to expand to the one among South Korea, the U.S., and Japan, while South Korea and Japan may cooperate at the level of alliance beyond normalization. If a hotline is set up before the establishment of a three-way military alliance, Seoul-Washington security cooperation, which has continued since the Korea-U.S. mutual defense treaty, could expand to Seoul-Washington-Tokyo security cooperation.

This is expected to be a milestone in response to North Korea’s nuclear and missile provocations.

The leaders of South Korea and the U.S. vowed a joint nuclear plan in the Washington declaration in April, saying, “All nuclear attacks by North Korea against South Korea will face immediate, overwhelming, and decisive responses.”

President Yoon Suk-yeol stressed the ironclad Korea-U.S. alliance on his way to board the USS Kentucky, a U.S. nuclear-capable ballistic missile submarine that stopped in Busan on July 19, saying, “By doing so, we will make North Korea not even dream of carrying out a nuclear provocation, and we warned clearly that should North Korea carry out a provocation, it will lead to the end of that regime.”

Experts believe that the U.S. is focusing more on utilizing close cooperation between South Korea, the U.S., and Japan as a channel to hold China in check.

The U.S. wants South Korean and Japan to agree that each nation has a duty to consult the others in the event of an attack in a joint statement at the upcoming trilateral summit, Financial Times (FT) reported Monday.

FT said that Washington is urging Tokyo and Seoul to state that the countries have mutual vulnerabilities – a reference to North Korea and China – that would enhance deterrence and facilitate defense co-operation.

Apart from establishing a hotline, the three leaders are expected to discuss ways to strengthen trilateral exercises, cyber security, missile defense and economic security.

#South Korea #U.S. #Japan #trilateral summit #hotline