By David Brunnstrom
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden is expected to host the leaders of Japan and South Korea in a trilateral summit at Camp David next month, the co-chair of the U.S. congressional caucus on Korea said on Thursday.
Democratic congressman Ami Bera told a Washington think tank he anticipated the summit between the close allies “in, I guess, a couple of weeks now” at the U.S. presidential retreat in the mountains of western Maryland.
South Korean and Japanese media have reported that the meeting will be held at Camp David on Aug. 18. South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s office said last week it would be in August, with the exact date and location to be announced soon.
The White House declined to comment. A person familiar with the matter told Reuters plans were not yet finalized.
Washington is keen to encourage closer cooperation with its two main allies in Asia amid shared concerns about China’s growing might and North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs.
Japan and South Korea have been moving to mend strained bilateral ties following years of feuds over historical issues which undercut cooperation.
Biden in May praised Yoon and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida for “courageous work to improve their bilateral ties,” saying the trilateral partnership was stronger because of it.
Bera told the Center for Strategic and International Studies he would like to see “real tangibles” from the summit, including on the economic front, “whether that’s in the semiconductor space … the clean-energy, electric-vehicle space.”
“We’ve talked a little bit about joint exploration in the East China Sea, what that might look like,” he added. “Is there a way for U.S. energy companies to be engaged in a maybe Japanese-Korean venture in the joint development zone?”
Bera referred to cooperation on supply chains and an agreement the United States had negotiated with Japan covering rare earths critical in high-tech uses. “I think … Korea should be involved in that as well,” he said.
Bera said he expected Yoon to raise South Korean concerns about Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act “and maybe you’ll see some progress on what that looks like and some adjustments.”
(Reporting by David Brunnstrom; additional reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt, editing by Deepa Babington)
