Korea-US-Japan Summit
It is increasingly expected that Korea, Japan, and the United States will have a summit meeting in The Hague between March 24 and 25, during the concurrent Nuclear Security Summit.
The Korean Presidential Office held a National Security Council (NSC) meeting on March 19, presided over by the head of the Office of National Security Kim Jang-soo, to examine the possibility. It is said that some of the meeting participants stressed the summit talks would be possible only after Japan showed a meaningful change in stance.
The three-way summit talks are thought of as a way of reducing the burden of a bilateral meeting between Korea and Japan, with the US insisting on better relations between the two Asian countries and Japan calling for dialogues. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who recently said that he would be willing to uphold to the Kono Statement, said on March 18, “Korea is one of the most important countries for Japan that shares its fundamental values and strategic advantages,” adding, “I will attend the Nuclear Security Summit, if conditions permit, to improve the bilateral relations in a more future-oriented way.”