IRIA News

U.S. President Joe Biden met with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yoel and these Japanese President Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at Camp David near Washington on August 18, 2023. Leaders of the three countries vowed to deepen economic cooperation and military partnership against China and North Korea.

U.S. President hosted the leaders of South Korea and Japan at his presidential retreat marking the first official meeting between the three leaders as Washington focuses on thawing historically cold relations between Tokyo and Seoul.

The three leaders declared that the meeting is a start of a “new era of trilateral partnership” as they announced a series of measures aimed at bolstering trilateral partnership.

White House said that the trilateral partnership between the U.S. Japan and South Korea are “determined to align our collective efforts because we believe our trilateral partnership advances the security and prosperity of all our people, the region, and the world.”

Camp David Principles

Following the summit, the White House released a statement highlighting the most important subjects discussed by the three leaders. The statement highlighted that the three leaders agreed, “the purpose of our trilateral security cooperation is and will remain to promote and enhance peace and stability throughout the region.”

China’s increasing influence in the Indo-Pacific region remained the main topic of concern during the summit as the three leaders used strong language to condemn Beijing, which is also a strong trading partner of Japan and South Korea. “Regarding the dangerous and aggressive behavior supporting unlawful maritime claims that we have recently witnessed by the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in the South China Sea, we strongly oppose any unilateral attempts to change the status quo in the waters of the Indo-Pacific,” the statement said.

There’s no better place than Camp David to hold today’s historic trilateral discussion with Japan and the Republic of Korea.

Today represents the culmination of two years of work and a stronger future of cooperation – for our security, for our diplomacy, for our economies. pic.twitter.com/2A4gcsQsrl

— President Biden (@POTUS) August 18, 2023

The joint statement also said that the three leaders showed their commitment to consulting each other during crises and coordinating a joint response to counter regional challenges, especially on North Korea’s military activities in the region. They agreed to hold more military exercises annually and agreed to establish a communication channel by the end of this year that would share real-time location information on North Korean missile launches and other military activities.

Apart from addressing the security challenges, the leaders of U. S., Japan and South Korea also vowed to increase the partnership efforts to strengthen ties with the ASEAN countries and the Pacific Island nations. “We are committed to partnering closely with ASEAN to advance the implementation and mainstreaming of the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific,” the statement said adding that “We are determined to work closely with Pacific Island countries and the Pacific Islands Forum as the region’s leading institution, consistent with the Pacific Way.”

Joint press conference

This was the first time during his time as a President that Joe Biden hosted foreign leaders at Camp David, the Presidential retreat near Thurmont, Maryland. While speaking at a news conference alongside Kishida and Yoon following the meeting, Biden hailed the work the Japanese and South Korean leaders have done to “resolve difficult issues” between their countries, and with the United States.

He praised the political courage of his East Asian counterparts for pursuing a rapprochement. He said they understood the world was “at an inflection point, where we’re called to lead in new ways, to work together, to stand together.”

“Critically, we’ve all committed to swiftly consult with each other in response to threats to any one of our countries from whatever source it occurs,” he said. “That means we’ll have a hotline to share information and coordinate our responses whenever there is a crisis in the region, or affecting any one of our countries.” He added that together the three countries are going to stand up for international law, and against coercion.

Without mentioning China’s name, Japanese Prime Minister Kishida said that “Unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force in the East and South China Seas are continuing,” while adding that the North Korean nuclear and missile threat was “only becoming ever larger.”

Yoon said the summit agreement meant that “any provocations or attacks against any one of our three countries will trigger a decision-making process of this trilateral framework and our solidarity will become even stronger and harder.”

Despite ensuring strong trilateral military and defense cooperation in the future, the three countries did not sign a defense pact of long-term trilateral agreement, similar to those Washington has separately with both Seoul and Tokyo. This was largely due to the fact that South Korea and Japan are not formal allies with each other.  

Bilateral meetings

Along with the trilateral summit, U.S. President Joe Biden also met with the South Korean president and the Japanese prime minister in one-on-one bilateral meetings. During his meeting with the Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Biden discussed global and regional security issues and advanced bilateral security and economic cooperation.

“Both leaders affirmed their resolve to continue supporting Ukraine for as long as it takes as Ukraine defends itself from Russia’s brutal and unlawful aggression,” the White House said following the meeting. “The leaders expressed concern about the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) recent dangerous behavior in the South China Sea to assert its unlawful maritime claims. They also reaffirmed the importance of maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait,” it added.

Biden’s bilateral meeting with South Korean President Yoon also focused on the same issues as the two leaders discussed the threats posed by the nuclear and ballistic missile programs of North Korea. “Both leaders committed to working closely together to address the unlawful nuclear and ballistic missile programs of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), including through extended deterrence activities consistent with the Washington Declaration,” a White House statement said.