Madrid, June 29 (EFE).- South Korea’s presidential office confirmed today that the Asian country’s head of government Yoon Suk-yeol will meet with his counterparts from Japan (Fumio Kishida), Australia (Anthony Albanese) and New. Zealand (Jacinda Ardern) within the framework of the NATO summit that begins this Wednesday in Madrid.
The four non-Atlantic nations have been invited to the summit, marked by the war in Ukraine and China’s growing military might in the Asia-Pacific.
The meeting, which will last about 40 minutes, will begin at 12:00 local time (10:00 GMT), a presidential spokesman told Yonhap.
Tokyo has proposed hosting the four-way meeting and Seoul or Canberra have shown interest, but no confirmation has come to date.
While the meeting was said to focus on promoting the idea of a “free and open Indo-Pacific”, a presidential spokesman consulted by Yonhap assured that it “will not be an occasion to hold discussions around an agenda”. The meeting will be an exchange brief.
Yoon and Kishida are scheduled to hold a trilateral summit with US President Joe Biden at 2:00 pm local time (12:00 GMT), where progress on North Korea’s weapons program will focus on the agenda.
Yun, who came to power in May, will be seen today at these meetings with Kishida for the first time since he took office, marking efforts by Seoul and Tokyo to mend ties badly eroded by historic disputes after five years. – Liberal Moon Jae-in’s year in office in South Korea. EFE
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