President Moon Jae-in attended a dinner with U.S. President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe today. The trilateral dinner hosted by the U.S. President was the first official event on the itinerary of President Moon’s visit to Hamburg, Germany.

Today’s dinner started at 7:30 in the evening, and very sincere and candid consultations were made among the participants. Also attending the dinner from the Korean side were Minister of Foreign Affairs Kang Kyung-hwa, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Strategy and Finance Kim Dong-yeon and Chief of the National Security Office Chung Eui-yong. Accompanying the U.S. President were U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin and National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster. Attending from the Japanese side were Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Kotaro Nogami, National Security Advisor Shotaro Yachi and Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs Takeo Akiba.

First and foremost, the participating leaders discussed the North Korean nuclear issue. Today’s dinner served as an opportunity for the leaders of Korea, the United States and Japan to renew their commitment to working closely together to deal with the North Korean nuclear issue on the basis of momentum built at the successful ROK-U.S. summit held last week.

It is noteworthy that the three leaders had dinner together as their first main event after arriving in Hamburg prior to the G20 Summit beginning tomorrow following an emergency meeting convened yesterday by the U.N. Security Council in response to North Korea’s test-firing of a ballistic missile a few days before and the series of announcements condemning the North by 35 countries and international organizations in just two days. The leaders of the three countries engaged in in-depth discussions on how to respond to the recent provocation by the North and how to coordinate their policies to resolve the North Korean nuclear problem. Held at an opportune time, most of today’s dinner was spent on discussing the North Korean issues, including the nuclear problem.

The following is a brief explanation of the outcome of the discussions among the three leaders and their shared understanding of the North Korean threat as well as of how the three countries would work together to respond in the days to come.

First of all, with regard to the North Korean nuclear issue, the three leaders reached an agreement that it was critical to put significantly intensified pressure on the communist state by swiftly adopting a stronger U.N. Security Council resolution. They also agreed to engage in close consultations with related nations, including China and Russia, on the basis of solid three-way cooperation.

Noting the importance of China`s active role in advancing the resolution of the North Korean nuclear issue, the three leaders also saw eye to eye on the need to make the most of bilateral meetings, including the Korea-China summit held in the morning, and multilateral meetings to be held on the sidelines of the G20 Summit and to pursue close communication with China and Russia. 
 

In addition, the three leaders reached an agreement that it was more important than anything else to quickly halt the sophistication of the North`s nuclear-tipped missile capabilities, which was rapidly progressing as evidenced by the North`s claim that the missile fired recently was an intercontinental ballistic missile.

In that regard, the three leaders shared a mutual understanding that it was necessary to seek a range of measures to encourage the North to take the path of denuclearization while further heightening the level of sanctions and pressure over North Korea’s provocations.

Based on the result of the Korea-United States summit held last week, President Moon explained the Korean Government’s phased and comprehensive denuclearization plan utilizing all possible means, including both sanctions and dialogue.

The next issue discussed was how to enhance trilateral cooperation. At the dinner, the three leaders took note of the ongoing cooperation in response to North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats and came to a common ground to continue their trilateral collaboration.

The trilateral summit today was the first since the launch of new Administrations in both Korea and the United States. The meeting was regarded as very meaningful as the three leaders not only had in-depth discussions on pending issues but also solidified their bonds and sense of friendship.

The three leaders agreed to hold such meetings on the sidelines of major upcoming multilateral summits.