Lee administration marks 1st high-level regional diplomacy, holding trilateral with U.S., Japan

South Korea, the U.S., and Japan have held their first high-level trilateral meeting as ministers gathered at the ASEAN Regional Forum in Malaysia.

The meeting comes amid both trade and security tensions in the region, and marks the Lee Jae Myung administration's first steps into regional diplomacy.

For more, we have our correspondent Oh Soo-young on the line.

Good evening, Soo-young.

Sooyoung, the trilateral meeting came quite unexpectedly. Fill us in on what happened.

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 on Friday.

This marks the first trilateral senior-level meeting of diplomats under the Lee Jae Myung administration, and as you said, the trilateral was 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 deputy status signifies Washington and Tokyo's strong commitment to trilateral cooperation and diplomacy with Seoul.

What did they discuss?

Seoul's foreign ministry says the three sides reaffirmed their shared commitment to the complete denuclearization of North Korea and pledged to maintain strong deterrence and expand security cooperation based on close trilateral coordination.

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

At the same time, Vice Minister Park explained Seoul's efforts to ease tensions with Pyongyang and resume inter-Korean dialogue, and called for continued support from Washington and Tokyo.

The ministers also exchanged views on regional dynamics and committed to strengthening cooperation in areas like energy, shipbuilding, and supply chain resilience of critical minerals and advanced technologies like artificial intelligence.

Right, the Vice Minister also participated in regional talks.

Yes. Park on Friday voiced the new South Korean administration's support for ASEAN-led initiatives for regional peace and propserity.

Co-chairing a meeting of ministers from South Korea and five Mekong countries, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam, Park highlighted past cooperation on climate change, environment, water resources, forestry, and rural development all directly linked to the livelihoods of the people of the Mekong region.

Adopting a joint statement based on their principles for cooperation, he proposed expanding collaboration to digital transformation and human resources development to help turn challenges into opportunities.

At the East Asia Summit, he reiterated Seoul's commitment to resolving the North Korea nuclear issue.

He stressed the need for support from EAS member states and called for a united message to Pyongyang.

Many participants reportedly expressed concern over North Korea's continued nuclear and missile development.

They urged North Korea to denuclearize, comply with all UN Security Council resolutions, and return to dialogue.

ASEAN's annual meeting of foreign ministers is the only multilateral forum North Korea has attended since 2000.

However, Pyongyang appears to have skipped this year's meeting for the first time, given its severed diplomatic ties with the host country, Malaysia.

Alright, thank you for keeping us updated, Soo-young.