Japan, the United States and South Korea are considering holding a trilateral summit by the end of this year, Mira Rapp-Hooper, senior director for East Asia and Oceania at the U.S. National Security Council, said Thursday.
The three countries will continue efforts to build partnership and "put it on strategic footing for the long term, including by holding another trilateral leader summit before the end of the calendar year this year," Rapp-Hooper said in a speech at the Hudson Institute, a think tank in Washington.
At their Camp David meeting in August last year, the leaders of Japan, the U.S. and South Korea agreed to meet at least once a year. This year, the three countries attempted to hold such a meeting on the sidelines of a NATO summit in Washington in July, but the three-way meeting did not take place.
U.S. President Joe Biden has pulled out of the presidential race, while Prime Minister Fumio Kishida this week announced a decision to step down.
Rapp-Hooper stressed the need to broaden the scope of three-way cooperation among security and economy officials as well as those in the private sector, in order to keep the momentum of strengthening ties even after a change of leadership.