President Yoon Suk Yeol (third from right) and his wife Kim Keon Hee (second from right) disembarks from Air Force One at the Vientiane Wattay International Airport as he arrived in Vientiane, Laos on Wednesday. (Yonhap)
VIENTIANE, Laos -- President Yoon Suk Yeol is to hold bilateral talks with the leaders of six countries attending the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Summit and related events on Thursday and Friday, after having arrived in Vientiane, Laos, Wednesday evening.
According to the presidential office, Yoon will meet leaders representing Japan, Canada and Australia.
At 10 p.m. Wednesday Laos time, Seoul announced that Yoon would sit down for talks with Japan's newly elected Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Thursday.
Yoon and Ishiba will officially shake hands for the first time since Japan’s prime minister took office on Oct. 1, as the meeting would signal a continuity of momentum for improved ties between South Korea and Japan through frequent meetings between the leaders. Yoon had met former Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida a total of 12 times beginning in March 2023.
Other than Yoon's meeting with Ishiba, Yoon's office declined to confirm with whom Yoon is to meet or on which day the meetings would take place. But according to the respective governments of the countries earlier this week, Canada announced Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's trip to Laos and Australia confirmed Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s travel plan.
These bilateral talks will be in addition to already announced plans for talks with the respective leaders of Laos, Vietnam and Thailand.
Yoon's office previously unveiled his plans to meet Laos President Thongloun Sisoulith during his trip to the country as it announced the trip to Southeast Asia on the occasion of the ASEAN Summit on Oct. 3.
Yoon is to attend the South Korea-ASEAN Summit, ASEAN Plus Three Summit and East Asia Summit during his visit to Laos. The president will depart Laos and return to South Korea on Friday.
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