Japan, U.S., S. Korea Hold 1st Joint Secretariat Meeting

Tokyo, Nov. 20 (Jiji Press)--Japan, the United States and South Korea held the first meeting in Seoul on Wednesday of their joint secretariat to coordinate trilateral cooperation in various fields including national security.

The meeting came unusually quickly after Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, U.S. President Joe Biden and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol agreed to establish the secretariat only on Friday.

The creation of the secretariat is aimed at institutionalizing cooperation among the three countries before the inauguration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, who has been dismissive of multilateralism.

The Seoul meeting was attended by Akihiro Okochi, deputy director-general of the Japanese Foreign Ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, Robert Koepcke, deputy assistant secretary of the U.S. State Department, and Yi Wonwoo, deputy director-general for North American affairs at the South Korean Foreign Ministry.

They confirmed that their countries will promote trilateral cooperation.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]