WNAM MONITORING: The top diplomats of South Korea, the United States and Japan will hold talks later this week on the margins of the foreign ministers’ meeting of the Group of 20 nations in Brazil, Seoul’s foreign ministry said Thursday.
It will mark the first three-way talks among Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa since Cho took office last month.
The talks are scheduled to take place early Friday, Seoul time.
They are expected to discuss a broad range of issues, including the three-way security cooperation in the follow-up to the landmark Camp David summit among the leaders of the three countries in August last year.
Also high on the agenda is expected to be North Korea’s recent bellicose rhetoric and provocations, as well as Japan’s diplomatic outreach to the North for a potential summit between Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
The trilateral talks will come after Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, signaled openness last week toward Kishida’s possible visit to Pyongyang if Tokyo makes a “political decision” to not raise the issue of Japanese abductees.
Prior to the planned trilateral meeting, Cho and Kamikawa held their first in-person talks to discuss bilateral relations and other issues.
