Yoon to leave Thursday for trilateral summit at Camp David

Kim Tae-hyo, the first deputy director of national security, at a press conference on Sunday. [YONHAP]

President Yoon Suk Yeol will be leaving for the United States on Thursday to meet with President Joe Biden and his Japanese counterpart Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at Camp David.

The presidential office on Sunday emphasized that it's the first exclusive meeting between the leaders of the three countries.

“This summit between Korea, the United States and Japan isn't taking place on the sidelines of an international multilateral meeting,” said Kim Tae-hyo, the first deputy director of national security, on Sunday.

“This is the first time in history that an exclusive meeting [between the leaders of the three countries] has been held."

He said the meeting would allow the three countries to form a "clearly independent" cooperative body within the Indo-Pacific region.

Kim said with the leaders spending such a long time with each other at Camp David, the trilateral meeting will serve as the center of freedom, peace and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region.

The presidential office said it expects discussions on strengthening national security cooperation between the three countries to take place, including joint efforts in deterring threats, as well as on economic cooperation for joint prosperity and future growth.

“Based on such cooperation between Korea, the United States and Japan, we hope to strengthen policy coordination with Asean and Pacific countries,” Kim said.

The security advisor also added that the Korean government will use the upcoming meeting as an opportunity to schedule bilateral meetings with the United States and Japan.

Among the issues to be discussed are artificial intelligence, cyberattacks and economic security.

The meeting comes on the heels of intensifying tensions in the region, including continuing threats by North Korea.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Thursday urged preparations for “offensive” military actions in case of possible war.

Kim presided over the enlarged meeting of the Central Military Commission of the North's ruling Workers' Party on Wednesday, reported the state-run Korean Central News Agency.

The meeting aimed at preparing the military more "thoroughly" to deter "military moves of the chief culprits of [the] deteriorated situation that disturb peace and stability in the Korean Peninsula and its vicinity."

The North Korean news agency on Aug. 6 released a photo of Kim firing a rifle while touring a military weapon production plant.

However, the president’s office noted that the discussion between the three heads of state will not include Japan’s discharging of treated radioactive water from the ruins of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

“Most of the requests made by the Korean government regarding the discharge of the water have already been conveyed to or accepted by the Japanese government, and therefore no additional discussions are expected to take place,” a presidential official said.

He added that there will be no direct mention of China or any hostile expressions against China.

However, the joint statement will likely address North Korea, especially the rising threats from its ballistic missile and nuclear weapons.

According to the presidential office, the three countries' leaders have gotten together in the same room 12 times since a trilateral meeting at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in 1993.

Additionally, this is the fourth time that Yoon has attended a meeting with Biden and Kishida. The first was in June 2022, a month after Yoon was sworn into office, at the NATO summit in Madrid.

Yoon is the second Korean president to be invited to Camp David.

The first to be invited to the U.S. presidential vacation home was Lee Myung-bak, who spent time there with then-U.S. President George W. Bush in April 2002.

BY LEE HO-JEONG [lee.hojeong@joongang.co.kr]