Seok-Yeol Yoon (left) and President-elect Joe Biden of the United States. Yonhap News EPA
The White House has officially announced plans for US President Joe Biden’s visit to South Korea and Japan in May. They will visit both countries on the 20th and 24th of next month to meet President-elect Yoon Seok-yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, and to attend the Quad Summit held in Japan.
The United States issued a statement in the name of White House press secretary Jen Saki on the 27th (local time) and announced that “President Biden will visit South Korea and Japan on May 20-24 to deepen relations between the government, economy and people.”
He added that the visit would advance the unwavering commitment of the Biden-Harris administration in the free and open Indo-Pacific and in Korea and Japan, treaty-friendly allies with the United States.
“President Biden will hold bilateral talks with his counterparts, President-elect Yoon and Prime Minister Kishida respectively,” Saki said. We will discuss opportunities to expand our close cooperation.”
The White House introduced that it would meet with the leaders of Japan, Australia, and India at the Quad Summit.
This visit to Japan is the first trip to East Asia by President Biden, who took office in January last year. Also, in the case of the Korea-US summit, it will be the first bilateral summit held since the inauguration of President-elect Yoon.
Washington = Jeong Sang-won correspondent ornot@hankookilbo.com
