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President Joe Biden of the US and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida of Japan meet on May 18 for a summit on the sidelines of the Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima that will last three days in the city. (AP/Yonhap)

At 6:02 am on Thursday, US President Joe Biden grinned as he shook hands with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Hiroshima, the first city ever struck by an atomic bomb.

“As you said back in January when you were at the White House, [. . .] we face [. . .] one of the most complex [security] environments in recent history,” Biden said. “But I’m proud that the United States and Japan are facing it together.”

“The Japan-US alliance is the very foundation of peace and security in the Indo-Pacific. We very much welcome that [our] cooperation has evolved by leaps and bounds,” Kishida responded.

Reunited after four months apart, the two leaders met shortly before the Group of Seven summit, which will be held on Friday through Sunday. They agreed to strengthen cooperation on pressing security issues facing the two countries, including North Korea’s nuclear weapon and missile threat, China’s coercive behavior and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Biden and Kishida also pledged to expand economic security cooperation by strengthening supply chains for energy, semiconductors and crucial minerals and by working with the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity.

While meeting with Kishida on his visit to Washington in January, Biden expressed full-throated support for Japan’s plan to acquire “counterstrike capabilities,” or the ability to strike enemy bases, and to more than double defense spending, which Biden called a “historic” decision. The two leaders were also in agreement about strengthening trilateral cooperation with South Korea.

In March, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol followed suit by making concessions to Japan in regard to the issue of compensating victims of forced labor during the Japanese colonial era, a key issue in Korea’s relationship with Japan, despite fierce opposition from the Korean public.

In a written summary of the meeting, the White House said that Biden and Kishida had “emphasized the importance of increasing multilateral cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region, particularly with the Republic of Korea (ROK) [and] the Quad nations including Australia and India.”

“The President commended Prime Minister Kishida on his courageous efforts to improve bilateral ties with the ROK, which will contribute to greater regional stability and prosperity,” the summary also said.

The Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a press release that Kishida, while previewing his visit to South Korea on May 7-8, told Biden he would keep improving relations with Seoul, news that Biden received with pleasure.

Biden and Kishida’s reiteration of the importance of improving Korea-Japan relations on Thursday seems to point to increased efforts to boost cooperation between the three countries.

US national security advisor Jake Sullivan addressed that point when a reporter asked about the possibility of a trilateral summit while Air Force One was en route to Japan on Wednesday.

“There is goodwill on all three parts to do it, particularly to recognize the real progress that has been made between the ROK and Japan with US support,” Sullivan said. “If we can find time in what is a very packed schedule, we will try to hold a trilateral.”

“But we don’t have anything to confirm yet because we’re still working through a number of these scheduling pieces,” Sullivan added.

Sullivan’s comments suggest that the three leaders would like to hold a summit, but haven’t been able to nail down a time and place because of Biden’s busy schedule.

When the three leaders do manage to sit down together, they’re expected to reach an agreement on the issue of South Korea and Japan sharing radar data in real time by way of the US to help detect and track North Korean missiles.

The three countries discussed how to best use existing channels, including the Trilateral Information Sharing Arrangement, to facilitate real-time sharing of warnings about missiles launched by North Korea in their Defense Trilateral Talks on April 14.

The Yomiuri Shimbun, a Japanese newspaper, reported on May 9 that the three countries plan to “affirm coordination on the matter” in a trilateral summit and then conclude the discussion during the Shangri-La Dialogue, a regional defense conference, in Singapore, on June 2-4.

After wrapping up his summit with the Japanese leader on his first day in Japan, Biden will be attending working meetings, dinners and press conferences during the three-day G7 summit, which begins on Friday.

The US explained on Wednesday that Biden would end his Asian tour in Japan and cancel scheduled trips to Papua New Guinea and Australia because of ongoing negotiations about the federal debt ceiling. Under those circumstances, a trilateral summit with Japan and Korea would probably be very short, if it’s held at all.

When the leaders of Korea, the US and Japan held a brief 15-minute summit in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, last November, they still managed to adopt the Phnom Penh Statement, in which they promised to cooperate on a range of global issues, and not just issues on the Korean Peninsula and elsewhere in the region.

At yet another short summit, Korea seems set to take the first step toward being folded into the US and Japan’s missile defense network.

China might take that as a violation of the “Three Nos,” referring to Korea’s pledge in late 2017 not to install more Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, batteries, not to participate in a US-led missile defense system and not to enter into a trilateral military alliance with the US and Japan.

Choppy seas are expected for Korea-China relations following the meeting.

By Lee Bon-young, Washington correspondent; Kim So-youn, Tokyo correspondent

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]