U.S. House committee resolution highlights Seoul-Washington-Tokyo cooperation

The U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee unanimously passed a resolution on Thursday recognizing the importance of trilateral cooperation between South Korea, the United States and Japan.

From left, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida are seen during a press conference at Camp David in Maryland in this file photo. [YONHAP]

The U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee unanimously passed a resolution on Thursday recognizing the importance of trilateral cooperation between South Korea, the United States and Japan.

According to the U.S. House Bill Information System on Friday, the committee passed the bipartisan resolution, introduced by Rep. Gerald Connolly, a Democrat of Virginia, and cosponsored by 22 Democratic and Republican lawmakers, in a meeting the previous day.

The resolution encouraged further cooperation between South Korea, the United States and Japan, and between South Korea and Japan, in areas such as diplomacy, economy and security.

It also acknowledged that the South Korea-U.S-Japan alliance is of key importance to American national interests and peace and security in the Western Pacific, and welcomed that the increased level of strategic coordination between the three countries has contributed to the stabilization of the region and world order.

In addition, the resolution praised the efforts of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to improve South Korea-Japan relations, commending the “extraordinary leadership” of the two heads of state, and also mentioned that strengthening relations between Seoul and Tokyo made it possible to pursue greater goals for trilateral cooperation with Washington.

Yoon, Kishida and U.S. President Joe Biden held the first-ever standalone trilateral summit at Camp David in Maryland last August, producing a series of agreements, including a “commitment to consult with each other in an expeditious manner to coordinate our responses to regional challenges, provocations and threats that affect our collective interests and security.”

“The trilateral summit hosted by President Biden last August kick-started a historic renewal of cooperation between our three nations as we seek a freer, more open and more secure Indo-Pacific,” said Rep. Connolly in a statement after the passing of the resolution. “I was proud to join so many of my colleagues in introducing this resolution recognizing the importance of cooperation between the U.S., Korea and Japan, and the role the United States can play in fostering it. And I am prouder still to see our resolution advance out of Committee today.”

BY LIM JEONG-WON [lim.jeongwon@joongang.co.kr]