US President Joe Biden will have a trilateral meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol during the G7 summit to be held in the Japanese city of Hiroshima in mid-May.
The news was anticipated by a senior US government official during a phone call with reporters. The official did not specify the date of the meeting, but said it will take place before Biden leaves for Sydney to attend a summit of the Quad, the grouping that brings together the United States and Japan along with Australia and India. The South Korean leader was invited to participate in the Japanese G7 summit on the occasion of the rapprochement between Tokyo and Seoul. Washington is also building closer relations with countries in the region to try to strengthen its Indo-Pacific alliances to counter China.
Last week, Biden hosted Yoon at the White House and signed an agreement with South Korea to enhance military cooperation against North Korea, which will allow a US submarine armed with nuclear weapons to dock on the Korean peninsula for the first time. time in 40 years. Yesterday Biden had a meeting in Washington with another regional leader, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. of the Philippines, during which he promised that the United States will help the Asian country modernize its armed forces and pledged to defend it in case of attack.