Leaders of Korea, US, Japan to adopt 2 Camp David documents

The Korea Times

The Korea Times

National

Wed, November 29, 2023 | 23:38

Foreign Affairs

Leaders of Korea, US, Japan to adopt 2 Camp David documents

Posted : 2023-08-17 18:25

Updated : 2023-08-18 10:08

President Yoon Suk Yeol waves as he embarks the presidential jet at Seoul Air Base in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, Thursday, to attend the trilateral summit between South Korea, the United States and Japan at Camp David, Maryland. Yonhap

Camp David Principles and Spirit to outline guidelines, visions for 3-way ties

By Nam Hyun-woo

President Yoon Suk Yeol, U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will adopt at least two policy documents concerning the bolstering of the three countries' trilateral relations during their summit, Friday (local time), at Camp David, the U.S. presidential retreat, Yoon's office said, Thursday.

The two documents ― the "Camp David Principles" and the "Spirit of Camp David" ― will each serve as the guidelines and a vision for the three countries' joint efforts to secure peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula, the Indo-Pacific region and the world, the South Korean presidential office said.

First Deputy Director of National Security Kim Tae-hyo said in a press briefing before the South Korean leader's departure for the summit that Yoon will have a bilateral meeting with Biden and Kishida before and after the trilateral summit, and that the leaders will adopt the two documents as an outcome of the event.

Kim said officials of the three countries are working on a third document, but it remains uncertain whether it will be adopted.

"As the outcome of the summit, the leaders will adopt the Camp David Principles, which will be the sustainable guidelines for the three countries' cooperation, and the Spirit of Camp David, which will contain the vision for trilateral cooperation," Kim said.

According to Kim, the "principles document" will contain a summary of the principles of trilateral cooperation in various fields, including regional and global peace, economic norms, advanced technologies, climate change and non-proliferation.

The "spirit document" will be about the outcomes of the trilateral summit, similar to joint statements that come after summits, and it will contain articles on establishing three-way consultative bodies, extended deterrence, joint military exercises, economic cooperation and security and other areas of cooperation.

"As it is named as 'Spirit,' the document will include the three countries' vision on cooperation and their willingness to carry them out," Kim said. "In the face of the intensifying geopolitical competition, the war in Ukraine, climate change, nuclear proliferation and other challenges, the leaders will agree on the necessity of trilateral cooperation and will proclaim a new era in their partnership."

First Deputy Director of National Security Kim Tae-hyo speaks during a press briefing at the presidential office in Yongsan District, Seoul, Thursday. Yonhap

The documents are anticipated to play an important role in turning the trilateral summit into a vehicle for their partnership and institutionalizing the three countries' cooperation.

Yoon has been stepping up efforts to make the trilateral summit become a sustainable vehicle guaranteeing South Korea's security in the face of North Korea's escalating missile and nuclear threats, even if relations between Seoul and Tokyo become aggravated at some point down the line.

During his Aug. 15 National Liberation Day speech, Yoon highlighted Seoul's improved relations with Tokyo, and the role of rear bases of the United Nations Command in Japan in protecting South Korea's security.

"We were able to open the new chapter regarding the three-way cooperation because there were significant improvements in the long-stalled South Korea-Japan relations," Kim said, adding that trilateral cooperation would not be possible if a single country refuses.

"The three countries have been engaging in three-way talks for almost three decades, but there were limitations in their cooperation due to each country's domestic political situations and changes in foreign policies," Kim said.

"Beginning from the summit, trilateral cooperation will become a pan-regional cooperative vehicle contributing to the freedom, peace and prosperity of not only the Korean Peninsula but also the Indo-Pacific region."

Even though the summit will be the new chapter for the united posture of the three countries, it will not transform into a multilateral alliance like the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

"An alliance typically involves allied nations automatically entering a conflict if one ally is attacked, but this does not apply to South Korea and Japan," a senior official at the presidential office said.

"The Seoul-Washington and Washington-Tokyo bilateral alliance are fully operative, and the trilateral security cooperation is more about organic information sharing on certain risks, it does not exactly qualify as an alliance."

namhw@koreatimes.co.kr