Embassy of the Republic of Korea in the USA

President Yoon Suk Yeol (middle) on Aug. 18 holds bilateral talks with U.S. President Joe Biden in front of Aspen Lodge, President Biden's cabin at Camp David, a presidential retreat in Maryland located around 100 km north of Washington.

By Lee Kyoung Mi
Photos = Office of the President

President Yoon Suk Yeol on Aug. 18 held separate summits with U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on the sidelines of the three countries' trilateral summit at Camp David, the American presidential retreat in Maryland located 100 km north of Washington. 

Before the three-way meeting, the Office of the President in Seoul said, President Yoon held individual talks with President Biden on boosting their bilateral alliance including regional issues on the Korean Peninsula and in the Indo-Pacific region and those of the world.

Their bilateral conference came four months after their last in April during President Yoon's visit to Washington as a state guest. 

The Office of the President said both leaders hailed the launch of their Nuclear Consultative Group and deployment of U.S. strategic nuclear submarines to the peninsula as showing "faithful understanding" of the bilateral Washington Declaration, which was adopted in April. 

Both sides also decided to continue close cooperation to strengthen their extended deterrence, with President Biden reaffirming his country's commitment of ironclad defense and extended deterrence to Korea.

"Today's summit shows that the Korea-U.S. alliance is taking a major step forward as a just alliance for global freedom, peace and prosperity based on universal values," President Yoon said.

President Yoon (middle on the left) on Aug. 18 holds talks with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland located around 100 km north of Washington. 

After bilateral talks with the U.S. and the trilateral meeting, President Yoon held separate talks with Prime Minister Kishida. 

In their 20-minute conference, both leaders agreed that bilateral cooperation has accelerated in a range of fields thanks to improvement in their ties, the Office of the President said. 

They also pledged to promote bilateral and trilateral cooperation to counter North Korea's escalating nuclear and missile threats, with Seoul, Washington and Tokyo to hold close coordination to implement United Nations Security Council resolutions on Pyeongyang.

Korea and Japan also welcomed the rapid normalization of cooperation not just in national security but also economy and finance, agreeing to resume a high-level economic consultative meeting in the latter half of the year and hold strategic dialogue between vice foreign ministers.

km137426@korea.kr