Yoon to discuss North Korea nuclear threat with US, Japan leaders

President Yoon Suk-yeol said that he will hold a trilateral summit with leaders of the US and Japan on the sidelines of a multilateral summit on Sunday.

While explaining his itinerary in Southeast Asia to the press during his regular morning briefing on Thursday, Yoon said the Korea-US-Japan summit has been confirmed. The meeting will be held during Yoon's first trip to Southeast Asia to discuss the North Korean nuclear threat issue.

The trilateral meeting will be held in Cambodia on Sunday, when the leaders will be attending the ASEAN summit. The leaders will also participate in the Group of 20 Bali summit scheduled for next week.

The upcoming Korea-US-Japan summit is the second meeting of its kind for Yoon. His first was at the Madrid NATO summit in June.

Along with the trilateral summit, a Korea-US bilateral summit was also confirmed by the presidential office on Thursday afternoon, without details on the time and place of the meeting.

The presidential office added that nothing has been confirmed about the Korea-Japan or Korea-China bilateral summits.

As for whether Yoon will have a face-to-face encounter with Chinese President Xi Jinping, the presidential office said: "It is difficult to predict what kind of encounter Yoon will have with President Xi on this trip. Various conversations are underway."

Yoon’s six-day Southeast Asia trip will kick off on Friday. Yoon will visit Phnom Penh, Cambodia to attend the ASEAN summit before heading to Bali, Indonesia, for the G-20 summit.