Secretary Antony J. Blinken, Republic of Korea Foreign Minister Park Jin, and Japanese Foreign Minister Kamikawa Yoko Before Their Meeting

SECRETARY BLINKEN:  Thank you.  Well, greetings, everyone.  And let me first say to Yoko, to Jin, thank you, thank you, thank you for joining us today, for coming together today really at the start of APEC.  It’s particularly nice for me to be able to return the favor of your hospitality just a week ago in Japan and in Korea.

We want to continue together to build on the tremendous success of the Camp David trilateral summit, including through these regular high-level consultations among the three of us.  Looking around the world, there is so much work for us to do together.  We currently face our fair share of challenges, but also quite a few opportunities, and we’ll have now the occasion to look at both of those as we continue our consultations. 

But events in the Middle East, shared economic cooperation, shared growth, addressing the security implications of the DPRK-Russia military cooperation, and a number of regional and global issues, including our ongoing support to Ukraine – these and more are on our agenda together.  So I’m very much looking forward to this discussion, and it’s a great pleasure to turn the floor over to Foreign Minister Kamikawa.

FOREIGN MINISTER KAMIKAWA:  Thank you, Tony.  I am delighted to be here today with Tony and PJ for a trilateral foreign minister – foreign ministerials meeting following our first meeting in New York in September. 

Today, we face various issues such as the Middle East situation, Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, as well as challenges in the Indo-Pacific, including China and North Korea.  Such global landscape demands an increased level of our strategic coordination.  Building upon our solidarity, which was made stronger than ever through the trilateral summit at Camp David, it is essential to advance our cooperation in a concrete manner.  I would like to work together with both of you to uphold the free and open international order based on the rule of law, as well as to aim for a world caring for human dignity.  Thank you.

SECRETARY BLINKEN:  Jin.

FOREIGN MINISTER PARK:  Thank you, Tony and Yoko.  It’s great to see you on the other side of the Pacific in less than a week.  And Yoko, we are having meetings first on the U.S. East Coast and now in the U.S. West Coast. 

This trilateral meeting is an ideal way to start the APEC engagement in San Francisco.  Our trilateral cooperation has been reaching unprecedented heights, especially since the historic Camp David summit in August.  The agreements among our leaders are one by one bearing fruit: the first trilateral development and humanitarian assistance meeting, a trilateral defense ministers’ meeting, and a trilateral dialogue on space security took place all in last two weeks.  We expect to see the next national security advisors’ meeting and the inaugural Indo-Pacific Dialogue.  Our embassies around the world are also stepping up their trilateral engagement, realizing that our partnership is a diplomatic multiplier. 

The rules-based international order is facing multiple challenges in this poly-crisis era.  Strengthening cooperation among likeminded countries is more important than ever, which is why the three of us are here. 

SECRETARY BLINKEN:  Thanks, everyone.