Go to contents

ROK-US summit may take place in mid-June

Posted May. 23, 2017 06:16,   

Updated May. 23, 2017 06:18

한국어

A summit meeting between South Korea and the U.S. is expected to be held as early as in mid-June.

“Work is underway to hold the summit with the U.S. in mid-June,” said People’s Party spokesperson Choe Myung-gil on Monday sharing the results of his meeting with National Security Office chief Jung Ui-yong and Floor Leader Kim Dong-chul of the People’s Party. Initially, the ROK-U.S. summit was expected to take place in late June, with the G-20 Summit Meeting coming up in early July, but it has been reported that Seoul is pushing for a new schedule to hold the summit earlier at the request of Washington.

Asked on the matter of deployment of THAAD missile defense system, Choe said that Jung pledged to make consultations with and get cooperation from the National Assembly at each phase of handling the issue. “Japan hopes to hold the event in about mid-June, but nothing is fixed," Jung was quoted by the spokesperson. " A chord was struck with Japan in understanding the fact that Koreans are having trouble accepting the deal on the issue of comfort women, and we will engage in future negotiation with high expectation.”

The Japanese daily Mainichi Shimbun reported on Monday that the Japanese government is adjusting schedules with relevant counties to hold a tripartite Tokyo summit between South Korea, Japan, and China in July, quoting comments from an official from the Japanese foreign ministry. The three-way summit is expected to serve as a venue for Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang to discuss North Korean issues. While Japan, the chair country of the tripartite summit, has pushed for holding the highest-level meeting from last year, the initiative failed to yield results owing to the impeachment scandal in South Korea and a lukewarm response from China.



weappon@donga.com · peacechaos@donga.com