Shin Won-sik, national security adviser for President Yoon Suk Yeol, is scheduled to attend a trilateral meeting of the top national security aides representing South Korea, the United States and Japan, according to the presidential office on Friday.
"Shin is on a trip to the US to attend the meeting there scheduled on Friday," an official of the presidential office said on condition of anonymity.
The three-way meeting is meant to discuss "ways to maintain continuity in the cooperation between South Korea, the US and Japan, regardless of the US presidential election and changes in the political leaders in Congress," the official also said.
The US presidential election is Nov. 5. In addition to the presidential election, a total of 468 seats in the US Congress are up for election. Incumbent US President Joe Biden -- who spearheaded the trilateral ties through the "Washington Declaration" in August 2023 -- has stepped down from running for a second term. His vice president, Kamala Harris, has stepped up to represent the Democratic Party, whereas former President Donald Trump is running again on the Republican side.
Japan's NHK reported on Friday that the national security advisers of Japan, the United States and South Korea are meeting to reaffirm further cooperation regardless of who wins the US presidential election.
Also attending the meeting are Akiba Takeo, secretary general of Japan's National Security Secretariat, and US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan. Shin, Sullivan and Takeo are poised for not only three-way talks but also separate bilateral talks with each other.
