SEOUL: Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul highlighted Friday that maintaining good bilateral relations among South Korea, the United States and Japan, especially Seoul-Tokyo ties, is vital to cementing their trilateral cooperation framework.
Cho made the remarks as he stressed that strengthening the three-way security cooperation has become “an essential task” amid the intensifying nuclear and missile threats from North Korea and its deepening military ties with Russia.
“The inhumane behavior and destructive capabilities that North Korea has exhibited over the past 70 years since the Korea War have now reached beyond the Korean Peninsula and the Indo-Pacific region, affecting Europe as well,” Cho said in a keynote speech at an annual peace forum, co-hosted by Yonhap News Agency and the unification ministry.
“The comprehensive strategic partnership agreement signed between Russia and North Korea last week was a significant event that underscored this change,” Cho said.
Cho described the three-way cooperation amo
ng South Korea, Japan and the United States as a “three-legged chair” that needs each of the legs to stand steadily to function.
“The bilateral relations between South Korea and the United States, South Korea and Japan, and the United States and Japan have to be solid in order for the trilateral cooperation to sustain and develop further,” Cho said.
In particular, Seoul and Tokyo need to keep the momentum for the significant warming of the Seoul-Tokyo relations, spurred by the Yoon Suk Yeol government’s resolution to compensate Korean victims of Japan’s wartime forced labor, Cho said.
“The South Korea-Japan relations are the shortest of the three legs of the chair,” Cho said. “We must make the most of this opportunity achieved through President Yoon’s decisive action and Prime Minister Kishida’s active response.”
To solidify the trilateral cooperation, Cho also called for making sure the follow-up steps from last year’s Camp David trilateral summit are implemented.
The August summit of South Korean Presi
dent Yoon Suk Yeol, U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida produced a series of agreements, including the three countries’ “commitment to consult” each other in the event of a shared threat and cooperation in various other fields.
“What’s important is that each of the three countries maintains a firm vision for and commitment to the trilateral cooperation and makes sure that it continues through,” Cho added.
Source: Yonhap News Agency