Korea to hold bilateral summits with Japan, U.S. at UN General Assembly

First Deputy National Security Adviser Kim Tae-hyo speaks during a press briefing at the presidential office in Yongsan on Thursday. [YONHAP]

President Yoon Suk-yeol will hold bilateral summits with the United States and Japan on the occasion of the UN General Assembly to be held in New York next week, the Korean presidential office announced Thursday.

“We are coordinating a Korea-U.S. summit and a Korea-Japan summit at the UN General Assembly,” said First Deputy National Security Adviser Kim Tae-hyo during a press briefing at the presidential office in Yongsan on Thursday, while detailing Yoon’s schedule for visiting Britain, the United States and Canada starting on Sept. 18.

The last Korea-Japan summit was held in December 2019 between then-President Moon Jae-in and then-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during the Korea-China-Japan trilateral meeting in Chengdu, China.

Yoon and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida previously met several times on the occasion of the NATO summit held in Spain in June, but failed to reach an official bilateral meeting.

The Korea-U.S. summit follows Yoon's meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden in Seoul on May 21, during Biden’s visit to Korea.

“We agreed early on that we would hold bilateral talks with the U.S. and Japan,” said a high-ranking official from the presidential office.

BY LIM JEONG-WON [lim.jeongwon@joongang.co.kr]