Korea, US, Japan summit set for July 6

WASHINGTON -- The leaders of South Korea, the US, and Japan are to hold a trilateral summit on July 6 on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Hamburg, Germany.

US National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster revealed Thursday that South Korean President Moon Jae-in, US President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will meet in Germany.

According to South Korea’s presidential office, the meeting will take place over dinner, where the three leaders are expected to discuss a range of issues including ways to cooperate in a deal regarding North Korea’s nuclear program.

Moon, currently vising the US on his first foreign trip since taking office on May 10, is to leave for Germany on Wednesday, two days after his return from Washington.

During his four-night stay in the European country, Moon is expected to hold a series of bilateral talks with other leaders on the sidelines of the two-day G-20 meeting, to be held July 7-8. Leaders of 19 other developed and developing countries around the world are expected to gather.

Aside from the Korea-US-Japan meeting, Moon is expected to hold a flurry of bilateral meetings, marking his debut as president of South Korea on the global diplomatic scene. Summits being arranged include those with leaders of China, Japan and Russia, Cheong Wa Dae said.

A summit meeting with Chinese President Xi Jin-ping is likely to happen, according to Seoul’s ambassador for public diplomacy Park Euna.

Moon will first head to Berlin for an official two-day visit that will include bilateral talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

He will then head to Hamburg, where the G-20 summit will take place.

“It will be Moon‘s first participation in a multilateral meeting since his inauguration, and it will provide him an opportunity to introduce his new government key economic policies at the G-20 summit, the world’s top economic consultative body,” the Cheong Wa Dae spokesman said.

By Choi He-suk (cheesuk@heraldcorp.com)
Korea Herald correspondent