 |
|
President Yoon Seok-yeol (right) and First Lady Kim Gun-hee board the presidential plane at London Stansted Airport on Monday and depart for New York. (Yonhap) |
NEW YORK — South Korean President Yoon Sook-yeol arrived in New York on Monday to attend the United Nations General Assembly and hold a series of summits on the sidelines, including a long-awaited meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
The second of Yoon’s tripartite trips to New York follows his attendance at the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II in London and precedes a summit with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Ottawa.
Yun will stay in the city for four days and will hold bilateral talks with US President Joe Biden, Kishida, UN Secretary-General António Guterres and others after giving his first address to the UN General Assembly on Tuesday.
According to his office, Yoon will make his debut on the UN stage in a speech outlining his vision of increasing solidarity among freedom-loving nations. The speech will also underscore South Korea’s commitment, along with allies such as the United States, to safeguard peace from the threat of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction.
The meeting with the Japanese prime minister will be the first summit between the two countries since December 2019 and will discuss forced labor during the war and other issues related to Japan’s colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula from 1910 to 1945. Expectations to improve the badly worn relationship over
Details of the meeting, including dates and agenda, have not been confirmed, but South Korean officials insist it will take place as agreed. Meanwhile, according to Japanese news reports, Japan has expressed reservations about holding a summit before any progress is made on the issue of compensation for victims of forced labor in South Korea.
Yun and Kishida met at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit in Madrid in June, including a trilateral meeting with Biden, but did not participate in one-on-one talks. rice field.
The meeting with Mr. Biden will be the second since he took office in May, following the summit in Seoul in May.
The two leaders will discuss implementing what they agreed to at their summit in May, but will also address South Korea’s concerns about the recently passed U.S. anti-inflation law.
The law exempts electric vehicles assembled outside of North America from tax incentives, raising concerns that it will pose a significant trade barrier for South Korean-made vehicles.
Yoon’s itinerary also includes a meeting with South Korean residents on Tuesday, various sessions with academics, scientists and businessmen, and a reception hosted by Biden at the American Museum of Natural History on Wednesday.
The president is accompanied by his wife, Kim Gun-hee. (union)
