Biden looks to solidify key ties with Japan and South Korea at Camp David meeting

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden will host the leaders of Japan and South Korea in a first-of-its-kind trilateral meeting on Friday at Camp David.

The president is hoping to smooth over a historically icy relationship between the two neighbors in order to bolster military cooperation in the region amid rising tensions from China and North Korea.

The meeting between Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol marks the first time Biden has used the Maryland retreat for a summit during his presidency.

“This summit comes at a moment when our region and the world are being tested by geopolitical competition, by the climate crisis, by Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, by nuclear provocations,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said during a briefing on Tuesday.

“Our heightened engagement is part of our broader efforts to revitalize, to strengthen, to knit together our alliances and partnerships,” he added.

Japan and South Korea are some of the most strategic U.S. allies in the Pentagon’s heavily armed Indo-Pacific area of responsibility, the geographic combatant command that hosts more than half of the globe’s 10 largest standing militaries.

The summit comes as tensions between Beijing and Washington have intensified over China’s territorial expansion in the South China Sea, aggression toward Taiwan, allegations of espionage and human rights abuses.