Trilateral summit to adopt statements on shared 'principles' and 'spirit'

The leaders of South Korea, Japan and the United States will adopt two statements highlighting their shared "principles" and "spirit" as they aim to elevate cooperation during their summit at Camp David on Friday. He departed for the U.S. Thursday.

President Yoon Suk Yeol waves before departing on the presidential jet at Seoul Air Base in Gyeonggi Thursday evening for a four-day trip to the United States for a trilateral summit at Camp David on Friday. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

The leaders of South Korea, Japan and the United States will adopt two statements highlighting their shared "principles" and "spirit" as they aim to elevate three-way cooperation during their summit at Camp David, a senior presidential official said Thursday.

U.S. President Joe Biden was set to host South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida for a historic standalone trilateral summit at Camp David, the American presidential retreat in Maryland, on Friday.

During the summit, the three countries are set to adopt at least two documents, the "Camp David Principles," with guidelines for trilateral cooperation, as well as the "Camp David Spirit," which contains their vision and implementation plans, Kim Tae-hyo, Korea's principal deputy national security adviser, said in a press briefing in Seoul Thursday.

Kim left open the possibility of the adoption of a third document, which the three countries are still in the process of negotiating.

The three countries have been strengthening security coordination following a recent improvement of bilateral ties between Seoul and Tokyo amid heightening geopolitical tensions with continued nuclear and missile threats from North Korea, backed by its increasingly assertive traditional allies, China and Russia.

Principal Deputy National Security Adviser Kim Tae-hyo gives a press briefing on the upcoming trilateral summit with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at the Yongsan presidential office in central Seoul on Thursday. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

The Camp David Principles is a document containing sustainable guidelines for future cooperation between the three countries, Kim told reporters at the Yongsan presidential office.

The three leaders will declare their shared principle of "strengthening cooperation for world peace and prosperity with the Indo-Pacific region, including the Korean Peninsula, Asean countries and the Pacific Island nations, and across the globe based on their common values and norms," Kim told reporters at the Yongsan presidential office.

They are expected to express their stance to jointly respond to global issues such as economic norms, advanced technologies, climate change and nonproliferation, he added.

The Camp David Spirit is a joint statement containing the vision and implementation plan for trilateral cooperation, containing the core results of the three-way gathering.

It will highlight concrete measures such as the establishment of a new consultative body and outline cooperation on extended deterrence, joint military exercises and economic security, according to Kim.

"This summit has the significance of institutionalizing and solidifying the trilateral cooperation system," Kim said. "We expect that the security and economic cooperation that has been pursued bilaterally will create synergies at the trilateral level."

He highlighted that Seoul-Washington-Tokyo cooperation will "evolve from regional cooperation on the Korean Peninsula focused on the North Korean threat" to a more comprehensive one aiming to build "freedom, peace and prosperity throughout the Indo-Pacific region." Such cooperation is expected to not only cover security but also the economy, advanced technologies, health, women's rights and people-to-people exchanges.

Yoon, who attended a funeral ceremony for his father earlier that day, departed for a four-day trip to the United States on the presidential jet around 6 p.m. Thursday. He was not accompanied by first lady Kim Keon-hee.

Yoon is set to arrive in Washington Thursday and have a dinner meeting with aides to review preparations for the summit, said Deputy National Security Adviser Kim. He will arrive at Camp David on Friday morning, where he will be greeted by Biden.

The three leaders' trilateral summit will be followed by a joint press conference in the afternoon.

Yoon will also be holding separate bilateral summits with Biden Friday morning and Kishida in the afternoon after a trilateral luncheon.

A presidential official told reporters that the issue of Japan's planned release of treated radioactive water from its defunct Fukushima nuclear power plant was not on the agenda for Yoon's summit with Kishida.

The official also played down China's concerns that the three countries will be forming a mini-NATO alliance, noting that "NATO is a multilateral collective security alliance of more than 30 countries," drawing the line by pointing out that the South Korea-U.S.-Japan "cooperative body" is not a trilateral alliance.

U.S. National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby speaks at a press briefing at the Foreign Press Center in Washington Wednesday ahead of a trilateral summit with Korea and Japan. [EPA/YONHAP]

South Korea, Japan and the United States will announce "significant initiatives" through their trilateral summit on Friday meant to take the three-way relationship to "new heights," John Kirby, White House National Security Council (NSC) coordinator for strategic communications, said Wednesday ahead of the summit.

Kirby told a press briefing at the Washington Foreign Press Center that the summit is "really about moving our relationships with each other and amongst each other to a whole new level," including economy, diplomacy and security, rather than a venue to discuss China concerns.

"As our nations make history on Friday at Camp David, we will be just as focused on taking actions to preserve this progress so that we may sustain and hopefully someday further strengthen and improve that trilateral cooperation," Kirby added.

He likewise played down the possibility of "any deliverables or any demonstrable discussion about some sort of NATO alignment" through the summit.

He said the leaders will "focus on the security front going forward to improve military interoperability and integration and coordination," in response to the continued "provocative actions" by North Korea through their missile launches and advancement of their nuclear weapons program.

Yoon and Kishida will be the first foreign leaders to visit Camp David since 2015. The three countries last held a brief trilateral meeting on the sidelines of the Group of 7 summit in Hiroshima, where Biden extended the invitation to a separate standalone summit in the United States.

Kurt Campbell, the NSC coordinator for Indo-Pacific affairs, highlighted the significance of the location of the summit, which he said holds "deep symbolism" and signals "the importance that we attach to this momentous moment."

Campbell in a seminar at the Brookings Institution think tank in Washington Wednesday that the summit will produce a "very ambitious set of initiatives that seek to lock in trilateral engagement both now and in the future."

He noted the three countries' cooperation should be seen as "a marathon, not a sprint" and may become "a defining trilateral relationship for the 21st century."

BY SARAH KIM [kim.sarah@joongang.co.kr]