President Yoon Suk-yeol will meet US President Joe Biden and Japan's leader Fumio Kishida bilaterally on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, the presidential office confirmed Thursday.
Yoon will depart Sunday for a seven-day trip to the UK, the US and Canada. After attending the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II in London on Monday, Yoon will fly to New York to attend the 77th UN General Assembly.
Kim Tae-hyo, the first deputy director of the National Security Office, told reporters Thursday that Yoon will address the General Assembly around 11 a.m. on Tuesday in the first session.
After making the keynote speech stressing freedom, human rights and international solidarity for peace, he plans to meet with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to discuss North Korea's provocations, global pending issues and cooperation between Korea and the UN, Kim said.
“We are pushing ahead with bilateral talks with leaders of major countries attending the UN General Assembly on Sept. 20 and 21. We agreed to have bilateral talks with the US and Japan and are adjusting the time,” Kim said.
The presidential office said they have not set the agenda for talks in advance and the meetings each would last about 30 minutes, given the short period.
“As for the talks with the US, the leaders are expected to talk about how to implement the development of related ministries at the working level after the Korea-US summit in May,” a senior presidential office said on condition of anonymity.
“As for Japan, we also didn't decide what to talk about when the two leaders meet. We are already talking to Japan about (sensitive issues) such as forced labor (at the working level).”
As for additional bilateral talks, the presidential office said they would be finalized at the end of this week.
