US & Canada

U.S. Welcomes Upcoming Kishida-Yoon Summit

Courtesy of Cabinet Public Affairs Office
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, left, and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol shake hands in Phnom Penh on Nov. 13.

Jiji Press

12:50 JST, March 15, 2023

WASHINGTON (Jiji Press) — The United States “very much” welcomes the upcoming meeting between Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price said Tuesday.

The meeting “will be a tangible manifestation of the efforts on the part of these two staunch allies of the United States to advance their own bilateral relationship,” Price said in a press briefing.

The spokesman also stressed the importance of trilateral cooperation among Japan, the United States and South Korea, saying that such a relationship allows the three countries to tackle the challenge posed by North Korea and other core challenges facing the Indo-Pacific more effectively.

Kishida and Yoon are scheduled to hold talks in Tokyo on Thursday. It will be the first visit to Japan by Yoon since he took office in May 2022, and the first by a South Korean president since his predecessor, Moon Jae-in, visited the neighboring country in June 2019.