Ministers last met in Ankara on July 7, signed small modular reactor cooperation pact
Foreign Minister Cho Hyun is scheduled to meet with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi on Wednesday on the sidelines of a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-related ministerial meetings in Manila, Seoul’s foreign ministry said Monday.
The three ministers last held trilateral talks on July 7 on the margins of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit in Ankara. During that meeting, they reaffirmed their commitment to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and vowed to continue efforts to pursue dialogue with Pyongyang, according to ministry officials.
The three countries also signed a memorandum of cooperation at the Ankara meeting to establish a framework for accelerating the deployment of small modular reactors in third countries, particularly in the Indo-Pacific region.
At the Manila meeting, the ministers are expected to discuss North Korea, ways to enhance trilateral security cooperation and economic ties, and the Middle East crisis and other regional and global developments, officials said.
Cho is making a two-day visit to the Philippines starting Tuesday to attend the Korea-ASEAN foreign ministers’ meeting, the ASEAN Plus Three ministerial meeting involving South Korea, Japan and China, the ASEAN Regional Forum foreign ministers’ meeting and the East Asia Summit foreign ministers’ meeting. During those sessions, Cho is expected to reaffirm Seoul’s commitment to strengthening cooperation with ASEAN and to explain the Seoul government’s efforts to promote peaceful coexistence and shared prosperity on the Korean Peninsula.
On the sidelines of the multilateral gatherings, Cho plans to hold bilateral talks with his counterparts from Australia, Thailand, New Zealand, Brunei and the Philippines. Seoul is also coordinating separate bilateral talks with the U.S., Japan and China, according to officials.