Japanese, South Korean leaders leave for US to attend summit with Biden

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol Thursday left for the US for a trilateral summit with US President Joe Biden.

The three leaders are set to meet for a trilateral summit at Camp David near Washington on Friday, NHK news reported.

It is marking the first time the three leaders will meet directly.

Issues that concern the three nations, including North Korea, will be discussed at the summit, which was proposed by Biden when the three leaders met on the margins of a G-7 summit in Japan in May.

A senior White House official said on Wednesday that it is expected to yield an agreement to establish an urgent communication hotline among the leaders of the three countries.

The announcement of the plan is expected on Friday, forming part of "a very ambitious set of initiatives that seek to lock in trilateral engagement, both now and into the future," Kyodo News cited Kurt Campbell, coordinator for Indo-Pacific affairs on the US National Security Council.

Campbell also noted that leaders will address Ukraine and stability in the Taiwan Strait, stressing the significance of this cooperation in shaping the Indo-Pacific's future framework.