Foreign ministers of U.S, Korea and Japan to meet

The United States announced Tuesday that it plans to hold a tripartite foreign ministerial meeting with Korea and Japan next week in Bali on the sidelines of an annual security forum.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is scheduled to visit the Indonesian resort island on July 22 to attend the Asean Regional Forum, her department said. Asean stands for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

“The United States looks forward to hosting a trilateral meeting with the government of Japan and the Republic of Korea,” department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.

Korean Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan and his Japanese counterpart, Takeaki Matsumoto, will also join the forum.

The forum draws top diplomats from the 10 Southeast Asian nations and more than two dozen other nations, including the U.S., China, Russia, Japan and the two Koreas.

The nuclear standoff with Pyongyang is usually high on the agenda.

Nuland said Clinton will also meet with the foreign ministers of the East Asia Summit (EAS) while in Bali to prepare for President Barack Obama’s participation in the EAS in Indonesia in November.

Yonhap