Minister of Foreign Affairs Cho Tae-yul (right) on Sept. 23 poses for photos with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken (center) and Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Yoko Kamikawa at the Lotte New York Palace Hotel in New York.
By Park Hye Ri
Minister of Foreign Affairs Cho Tae-yul on Sept. 23 in New York agreed in talks with his counterparts from the U.S. and Japan to continue close trilateral cooperation.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Seoul said Minister Cho, who is in the Big Apple to attend the United Nations General Assembly, discussed with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Yoko Kamikawa reinforcement of their trilateral cooperation, North Korea and regional geopolitics.
The three sides said the trilateral summit held in August last year at Camp David in Maryland produced results in each level and sector and agreed to boost efforts to systemize trilateral cooperation so that it can continue regardless of political changes in the three countries.
They also pledged to try holding another trilateral summit this year of their countries’ leaders and agreed to use this as an opportunity to release an announcement on the launch of a secretariat for the three sides.
The ministers expressed concern over North Korea’s latest announcement on uranium enrichment facilities, mobile launch pad for intercontinental ballistic missiles and military cooperation with Russia. Thus all three sides agreed to work closely to have the international community implement U.N. Security Council resolutions and sternly respond to any provocation from the North.
Minister Cho also thanked Washington and Tokyo for supporting Seoul’s Aug. 15 Unification Doctrine and requested continued cooperation to improve human rights in the North.
This trilateral summit of foreign ministers was held about seven months after February’s Group of 20 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Brazil.
hrhr@korea.kr
