President Yoon Suk-yeol left Friday for Cambodia, the first of the two destinations where the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the G-20 summits will be held.
Upon his arrival in Phnom Penh, Yoon will attend the South Korea-ASEAN summit. On Saturday, Yoon is scheduled to join a ASEAN Plus Three summit, where leaders from South Korea, Japan, China as well as ten other nations will join.
During the summit, President Yoon, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang will meet. This is the first time in almost three years since leaders of these three countries last met in December 2019.
Yoon will also participate in the East Asia Summit on Sunday, where the leaders will discuss on the region’s peace and security plans.
During the three-day visit, a trilateral summit with US President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will also take place, according to Yoon’s earlier announcement.
During the trilateral summit, the leaders are expected to discuss their security cooperation against North Korea’s threats. This summit is the second of its kind, following the one held on the sidelines of a North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit in Spain in June.
Yoon’s bilateral summit with President Biden has also been fixed, but his meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Kishida has not been confirmed.
Yoon also previously mentioned other bilateral and multilateral meetings are expected to take place as offshoots to the ASEAN.
After the ASEAN, Yoon will leave for the G-20 summit, located in Bali, Indonesia, between Nov. 15-16. Yoon is currently scheduled to deliver a keynote speech at the B20 summit, which involves business groups and entrepreneurs from the G-20 nations.
On Tuesday at the G-20 summit, Yoon plans giving speeches during two sessions -- one on food, energy, and security, and another on health.
Yoon will then return to South Korea for bilateral summits with the leaders of the Netherlands and Spain, scheduled for Thursday and Friday, respectively.
Yoon’s trip to Southeast Asia came amid the country’s recent tragedy on Oct. 29. Yoon himself said that it was difficult for him to decide to go on this summit trip until the last minute.
Meanwhile, the presidential office drew attention after deciding to bar public broadcaster MBC reporters from accompanying Yoon on Air Force One to the summits.
