Kuala Lumpur, July 10 South Korea, the United States and Japan were arranging to hold three-way talks among their senior diplomats in Malaysia, diplomatic sources said Thursday.
The talks, if held, will take place among First Vice Foreign Minister Park Yoon-joo, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya, on the sidelines of multilateral meetings hosted by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Kuala Lumpur.
The three sides were fine-tuning the details to hold the meeting, the sources said.
The talks would mark the first high-level meeting among the senior diplomats of the three countries since the launch of the Lee Jae Myung government in early June, underscoring their continued commitment to the trilateral partnership built under their previous governments.
The envisioned talks come as Seoul has been negotiating with Washington over steep US tariffs to avoid or minimise the impact on its key industries, a measure that has also been affecting Tokyo.
The talks would also come just days after South Korea's national security adviser, Wi Sung-lac, visited Washington earlier this week and held talks with Rubio, who doubles as the top security adviser, on the tariff measures and other alliance issues.
Wi said after his US trip that he suggested making efforts to facilitate a "mutually beneficial" deal and that Rubio had agreed with him.
On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump sent letters to Korea, Japan and other trading partners to notify them that the "reciprocal" tariffs will go into effect on August 1, an effective extension of the initial July 9 deadline following a 90-day pause.
At the envisioned talks, the three diplomats are also likely to discuss coordination on regional security issues, including the growing military ties between North Korea and Russia, Yonhap news agency reported.
The talks could also touch on China's growing assertiveness amid the intensifying rivalry with the US, possibly addressing the Taiwan Strait and other related issues.
Park would join the talks in place of the foreign minister, as the nomination procedure is still underway pending parliamentary confirmation.
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