Yoon departs from U.S. to attend summit with Biden, Kishida

Aug 18, 2023, 10:12 am

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South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol speaks with U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida ahead of their three-way talks in Hiroshima, Japan, in May, 2023./ Source: Yonhap News

AsiaToday reporter Hong Sun-mi

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 at Camp David.

After having a trilateral summit, Yoon will adopt a joint statement that calls for further strengthening the level of cooperation among the three countries in various fields, including security, economy, and advanced technologies. Yoon will also have a bilateral meeting with Biden and Kishida at Camp David.

First Deputy Director of National Security Kim Tae-hyo said in a press briefing that the leaders have decided to adopt two documents as an outcome of the summit, and may adopt a third document.

The two documents – the “Camp David Principles” and the “Spirit of Camp David” – will serve as the guidelines and a vision for the three countries’ joint efforts to become a pan-regional cooperative vehicle contributing to the peace and prosperity of not only the Korean Peninsula but also the Indo-Pacific region, and cooperate in global issues such as war in Ukraine.

“The Camp David Principles will contain a summary of the principles of trilateral cooperation in various fields,” Kim said. “The three leaders will declare the principles of strengthening cooperation for peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula, the Indo-Pacific region and the world, based on common values and norms.”

The “spirit document” will be about the outcomes of the trilateral summit that will contain articles on establishing three-way consultative bodies, extended deterrence, joint military exercises, economic cooperation and security and other areas of cooperation.

The documents are anticipated to play an important role in turning the trilateral summit into a vehicle for institutionalizing and solidifying the three countries’ cooperation, Kim said. “Such cooperation is expected to not only cover security but also the economy, advanced technologies, health, women’s rights and people-to-people exchanges,” he said.

“We expect that the security and economic cooperation, that has been pursued in three bilateral relations, will be able to create synergy at the three-way level between South Korea, the U.S., and Japan,” Kim added.

Kim Eun-hye, chief of public relations at the President’s Office, also held a separate briefing and said, “The history of security and economic cooperation among the three countries will be divided into before and after the Camp David Summit, which will be the centerpiece in pursuing freedom, peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula and the Indo-Pacific region.”

However, the presidential office predicted that the trilateral cooperation, which will solidify further starting from the Camp David Summit, will not be at the level of an alliance.”

#Camp David #Camp David Principles #Spirit of Camp David #trilateral summit