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South Korean First Vice Foreign Minister Choi Jong-kun (left), Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Takeo Mori (center) and US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman pose for a photo during their meeting Wednesday at the Japanese Foreign Ministry’s Ikura Guesthouse in Tokyo. (EPA/Yonhap News)

South Korea, the US, and Japan reaffirmed the importance of trilateral cooperation for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in a meeting of senior diplomats in Tokyo. This was the eighth meeting that the three countries have held at the deputy foreign minister-level four years after the previous meeting.

South Korean First Vice Foreign Minister Choi Jong-kun, US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, and Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Takeo Mori, met Wednesday at the Japanese Foreign Ministry’s Ikura Guesthouse in Tokyo to discuss North Korean policy.

Deputy foreign minister-level talks between the three countries had been on pause since October 2017, during the administration of Donald Trump. But they were revived by Joe Biden, who places a higher premium on alliance cooperation.

Sherman stressed the critical importance of cooperation between the three countries for the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in a joint press conference following the meeting. She added that North Korea should join denuclearization talks if it wants to secure a better future.

Choi said that the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula is a “long game” and that the three countries have the same understanding of and direction on the Korean Peninsula peace process. Since the Biden administration is stressing foreign policy, it’s very important how North Korea responds, the South Korean diplomat added.

Japanese newspaper the Asahi Shimbun reported that the three diplomats had “also shared opinions about China’s continuing maritime advance” in the day’s meeting.

“The international community should come together to resist unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force,” said Mori, the Japanese diplomat.

“The three countries reconfirmed their willingness to cooperate on regional engagement under the consensus that regional peace, stability, and prosperity are in their joint interest,” South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said in a statement.

In regard to dialogue at the deputy minister-level, MOFA said that the three countries had “agreed to hold regular meetings in the future to continue communication.”

Choi and Sherman will be meeting Friday in Seoul for the two countries’ 9th round of strategic dialogue at the deputy-minister level.

By Kim So-youn, staff reporter

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