House committee passes bill to establish interparliamentary dialogue among S. Korea, US, Japan
The House Foreign Affairs Committee endorsed the US-Japan-ROK Trilateral Cooperation Act aimed at creating permanent channels of communication and coordination among the three countries' legislative bodies, according to the office of Rep. Ami Bera, ranking member of the subcommittee on East Asia and the Pacific.
"As we face growing threats in the Indo-Pacific, now is the time to invest in our closest alliances rooted in democratic principles," Bera said in a statement.
"This bill creates a permanent forum for lawmakers from the United States, Japan, and South Korea to meet regularly, exchange ideas, and coordinate on challenges ranging from maritime security and economic growth to safeguarding democratic institutions," he added.
The lawmaker said the legislative effort builds on the momentum from the first standalone trilateral summit that the leaders of the three countries held at Camp David in Maryland in August 2023 to strengthen three-way cooperation.
Bera introduced the bill, while Reps. Joe Wilson, Mike Kelly, Joaquin Castro, Adrian Smith and the late Gerry Connolly co-led the legislation.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Korea Herald
2 hours ago
- Korea Herald
N. Korea says ties between NK-US leaders 'not bad' but rejects denuclearization talks
The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said Tuesday personal ties between the leaders of the North and the United States are "not bad," while ruling out talks on Pyongyang's denuclearization. Kim Yo-jong, vice department director of the ruling party's Central Committee, made the remarks as US President Donald Trump has expressed his intent to reengage with the North's leader. "I do not want to deny the fact that the personal relationship between the head of our state and the present US president is not bad," Kim said in a statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency. "However, if the personal relations between the top leaders of the DPRK and the US are to serve the purpose of denuclearization, it can be interpreted as nothing but a mockery of the other party," she said. DPRK is the acronym of North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Her remarks came days after a White House official told Yonhap News Agency that Trump remains open to engagement with the North Korean leader to achieve a "fully denuclearized" North Korea. Expectations have persisted that Trump might seek to resume his personal diplomacy with Kim, which led to three in-person meetings between them, including the first summit in Singapore in 2018. But the Hanoi summit in 2019 ended without a deal due to differences over the North's denuclearization steps in return for sanctions relief. While mentioning the official's remarks that she called the US side's "unilateral assessment," Kim Yo-jong stressed, "The year 2025 is neither 2018 nor 2019," and called for recognizing her country as a nuclear state. "Any attempt to deny the position of the DPRK as a nuclear weapons state ... will be thoroughly rejected," she said. "There should be a minimum judgment to admit that it is by no means beneficial to each other for the two countries possessed of nuclear weapons to go in a confrontational direction." Experts said North Korea reaffirmed its stance that it will not sit down for Pyongyang's denuclearization but appears to have left open room for talks with the US for other topics. Kim's remarks came just a day after she issued another statement via the KCNA claiming Pyongyang will not sit down with Seoul for dialogue and condemning it for "blindly adhering" to the South Korea-US alliance. (Yonhap)
Korea Herald
20 hours ago
- Korea Herald
North Korea not interested in talks with Seoul, Kim Jong-un's sister says
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's sister on Monday said that they are not interested in reviving talks with Seoul, in response to the Lee Jae Myung administration's efforts to mend ties with Pyongyang. 'We clarify once again the official stand that no matter what policy is adopted and whatever proposal is made in Seoul, we have no interest in it and there is neither a reason to meet nor an issue to be discussed with the ROK,' Kim Yo-jong, vice department director of the ruling party's central committee, said in a statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency. ROK is the acronym for South Korea's official name, the Republic of Korea. Kim Yo-jong's remarks referred to Lee's efforts to thaw inter-Korean ties and restore suspended dialogue channels with the North. The Lee administration has halted anti-Pyongyang loudspeaker broadcasts along the border and repatriated six North Korean fishermen via the maritime border in the East Sea, after they had drifted into southern waters. It also asked South Korean family members of those abducted by the North to stop flying balloons filled with 'anti-Pyongyang' leaflets to the North. But the powerful sister brushed off such efforts and called the decision to halt the loudspeaker broadcasts a 'reversible turning back of what they should not have done in the first place.' She added that if Seoul expected it could reverse all its actions 'with a few sentimental words,' it would be a 'serious miscalculation.' Kim Yo-jong also lambasted Lee by saying that he 'is no different from his predecessor in blindly adhering to the South Korea-US alliance' and pursuing confrontation with the North. On Seoul's Unification Minister Chung Dong-young's recent expression of hopes for Kim Jong-un's participation in the APEC summit in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, scheduled for October, the North Korean leader's sister called the move delusional. In response, South Korea's presidential office said in a statement that Seoul will continue to take necessary actions to ensure a Korean Peninsula free of hostility. This is aligned with the Lee administration's stance and goal to achieve peace without conflict, it added. Seoul's Unification Ministry interpreted Kim's remarks as a sign that Pyongyang is 'closely monitoring' the Lee administration's North Korea policy, the ministry's spokesperson, Koo Byoung-sam, told a press briefing. It also reflects the reality of 'the high walls of distrust' existing between the two Koreas. "The government will not waver due to each and every reaction from North Korea but will calmly and consistently pursue efforts to forge inter-Korean reconciliation and cooperation and realize mutual peace on the Korean Peninsula," Koo said. Yang Moo-jin, president of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, echoed the Unification Ministry's interpretation, saying that Kim's remarks reaffirmed the North's view of seeing inter-Korean ties as those between "two states hostile to each other.' It is also an intent to put pressure on the South and draw a reaction from Seoul, only 50 days after the launch of the new administration and almost immediately after Unification Minister Chung Dong-young was appointed last week. Kim Yo-jong's statement released Monday marks Pyongyang's first official statement on the Lee Jae Myung administration. In late 2023, Kim Jong-un defined inter-Korean ties as "two states hostile to each other, a shift from its previous unification goals and a turn towards a policy to view the South as a separate, hostile state.
Korea Herald
20 hours ago
- Korea Herald
Korea pitches multibillion-dollar shipbuilding plan to US: reports
Seoul says MASGA details unconfirmed as talks with Washington continue Korea has proposed a multibillion-dollar project reportedly named Make American Shipbuilding Great Again, or MASGA, to the United States as Seoul makes an all-out effort to cut a better tariff deal with Washington ahead of the US-set deadline for tariff talks on Thursday, according to media reports on Monday. Citing multiple unnamed sources, the reports said Kim Jung-kwan, Korea's minister of trade, industry and energy, presented the MASGA project and Korea's vision for shipbuilding cooperation with the US during ministerial-level talks with US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick in New York on Friday. According to the reports, the MASGA proposal, named after US President Donald Trump's campaign slogan "Make America Great Again," offers a comprehensive package deal that includes large-scale investments in the US by Korean shipbuilders and financial support measures from the government such as loans and guarantees. The reports said the Korean government is considering participation in the MASGA project by state-run financial institutions such as the Export-Import Bank of Korea and the Korea Trade Insurance Corporation. They added that Lutnick, who is considered a key figure in finalizing the US tariff deal with Korea, responded positively to the proposal. However, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy later said in a press release that the reported details of the MASGA proposal have not been confirmed as the negotiations are still ongoing, advising media outlets to take a careful approach when reporting on the trade talks between Seoul and Washington. In a press release on Saturday following the ministerial-level trade talks, Seoul's presidential office said it had reconfirmed strong US interest in shipbuilding cooperation, explaining that the two sides committed to working together on an agreement in the tariff negotiations. Korea's shipbuilding sector has been regarded as the country's unique leverage in the tariff talks with the US as its world-class capabilities can contribute to the Trump administration's goal of reviving American shipbuilding. Two of Korea's leading shipbuilding conglomerates -- HD Hyundai and Hanwha Group -- have already been ramping up their investments in the US and bolstering partnerships with American companies in the shipbuilding sector. HD Hyundai joined hands with US shipyard operator Edison Chouest Offshore to build medium-sized container vessels at the American company's shipyard by 2028. Hanwha Philly Shipyard, which was acquired by Hanwha Ocean and Hanwha System for $100 million last year, secured a contract to build a liquefied natural gas carrier, marking the first US-ordered, export-market-viable LNG carrier in nearly 50 years.
