Biden to host trilateral summit with Japan, S. Korea on August 18

Washington, The Gulf Observer: U.S. President Joe Biden is planning to host a trilateral summit with Japan and South Korea on Aug. 18, Japanese government sources said Thursday, with North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats likely to be top of the agenda, according to Kyodo News.

The summit involving Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol is expected to be held at the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland, near Washington, according to the sources.

If the plan goes ahead, it will be the first standalone summit between the leaders of the United States, Japan and South Korea, though they have held trilateral meetings on the fringes of international conferences and other occasions.

Biden, Kishida and Yoon last met together in May in Hiroshima on the sidelines of a Group of Seven summit.

But the previous three-way meeting lasted for just a couple of minutes amid a jam-packed schedule. Biden at the time invited Kishida and Yoon to the United States for an official summit.

When the three leaders next meet, they are likely to discuss how to deal with North Korea, which has continued to carry out ballistic missile launches.

Biden, Kishida and Yoon may discuss a plan for achieving real-time information sharing about the North’s missile launches by the end of this year, the sources said.