The upcoming trilateral summit between the leaders of South Korea, Japan and the United States will be of historic importance to the region and the entire world, a National Security Council official said Wednesday.
John Kirby, NSC coordinator for strategic communications, also highlighted the importance of a strong trilateral relationship between the countries.
The White House earlier announced that President Joe Biden will host South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida for a trilateral summit at Camp David next Friday.
"The president is looking forward to hosting both of these leaders -- Prime Minister Kishida, President Yoon -- at Camp David for what we believe is a discussion of historic proportions in terms of the importance of this trilateral relationship to the Indo-Pacific region and frankly to the world," the NSC coordinator told a virtual press briefing.
Kirby earlier noted that Yoon and Kishida will be the first foreign leaders to visit the US presidential retreat since 2015. The trilateral summit will also be the first "stand-alone" three-way summit of South Korean, American and Japanese leaders.
"Camp David, as you know, has been a historic setting for summit meetings and for significant foreign policy conversations throughout its existence," he told the virtual briefing when asked the reason for the selection of Camp David as the venue for the upcoming three-way summit.
The NSC official declined to elaborate on the summit, saying more details, including its agenda, will be provided later.
Still, he stressed the importance of the trilateral relationship, as well as bilateral relationships between the three countries.
"This is an important trilateral relationship. Obviously important bilateral relationship that we have with the both of these treaty allies, but they also -- Japan and South Korea -- are forging a closer bilateral relationship between the two of them," he said.
"And that's good. That's good for us. It's good for them. It's good for the region. So there's going to be an awful a lot to discuss over the course of the discussions at Camp David," added Kirby. (Yonhap)
