Japan, the United States and South Korea are arranging a trilateral meeting of their foreign ministers in mid-February, the first since US President Donald Trump returned to the White House, sources familiar with the planning said on February 7, Report informs via Kyodo News.
The meeting is likely to take place on the sidelines of the three-day Munich Security Conference from February 14, providing the ministers with an opportunity to confirm cooperation in tackling issues such as nuclear threats from North Korea.
Japan aims to use Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya’s three-way talks with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae Yul to emphasize the importance of multilateral frameworks, the sources said.
Iwaya will also seek cooperation from his counterparts in resolving the issue of Japanese nationals abducted by North Korea in the 1970s and 1980s, they said.
During his trip to Germany, Iwaya is expected discuss the security challenges confronting the Indo-Pacific region and Europe, including deepening military cooperation between Russia and North Korea as well as China’s increasing assertiveness.
Trump is known for his transactional approach to foreign policy and for favoring bilateral frameworks over multilateral ones. Japan and South Korea are both close US allies in Asia.
