S. Korea, U.S., Japan hold trilateral foreign ministers' meeting in Malaysia

We start with news out of Malaysia where the first high-level diplomatic talks among Seoul Washington and Tokyo since the launch of the Lee Jae Myung administration took place.

I have our foreign affairs correspondent Oh Soo-young standing by live with the latest.

Soo-young, welcome.

So I hear this trilateral diplomatic interaction was not arranged in advance and came about rather unexpectedly.

Do tell us more.

Sure, South Korea's First Vice Foreign Minister Park Yoon-joo held trilateral talks with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya on the sidelines of ASEAN-related meetings in Kuala Lumpur on Friday.

Their talks lasted for about 40 minutes.

The three sides reaffirmed the importance of trilateral cooperation and agreed to jointly counter North Korea's illicit cyber activities and deepening military cooperation with Russia.

They also reaffirmed their shared commitment to North Korea's complete denuclearization.

Now, this comes as Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is due to visit Pyongyang, after the ASEAN sessions on Friday, for, quote, "strategic discussions."

According to Rubio's office, they also discussed their "indispensable trilateral partnership" in the resilience of critical technologies and supply chains, energy, trusted digital infrastructure, and shipbuilding.

Vice Minister Park is also believed to have conveyed South Korea's position on ongoing tariff negotiations with the U.S.

Both Seoul and Tokyo recently received letters from President Trump notifying them that Washington will impose 25 percent reciprocal tariffs on August first.

The three sides last met in April at the NATO Foreign Ministers' meeting in Brussels.

But this is the first trilateral senior-level meeting of diplomats under the Lee Jae Myung administration.

As you said, the trilateral was quite unexpected, as Vice Minister Park is attending in place of South Korea's yet-to-be-confirmed foreign minister nominee Cho Hyun.

So the fact that this meeting was held -despite Park's relatively lower-level rank arguably signifies Washington and Tokyo's strong commitment to trilateral cooperation and diplomacy with Seoul.

Now those talks among diplomats from three countries took place on the margins of multiple meetings this week led by the ASEAN Soo-young.

Do walk us through some of them.

Yes. South Korea's vice minister is attending key discussions on Friday the East Asia Summit, the ASEAN Regional Forum itself, and Seoul's dialogue with ministers from Mekong countries.

On Thursday, Park took part in the meeting of ASEAN and its three Northeast Asian partners South Korea, Japan, and China.

He emphasized Seoul's commitment to strengthening trilateral cooperation with Tokyo and Beijing,.. in a way that complements ASEAN's goals, especially amid rising uncertainty and challenges in the region.

Earlier in the day, Park took part in the Korea-ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting, to adopt an updated five-year plan to fulfil the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership reached last year.

The new action plan includes peace, not only security, cooperation on the Korean Peninsula, along with cybersecurity, maritime issues, and digital transition.

All right Soo-young, thank you for that coverage of the trilateral ministerial gathering among diplomats from Seoul Washington and Tokyo in Malaysia.