Top diplomats of S. Korea, US, Japan to meet in Atlanta for first time in over a month

The foreign ministers of South Korea, the United States and Japan are set to meet on the sidelines of the G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting — their first gathering in over a month — to discuss Korean Peninsula issues, regional and global affairs, and economic security cooperation.

According to South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Minister Cho Hyun, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi will hold a trilateral foreign ministers' meeting Friday afternoon (local time) in Atlanta. It will be the fourth such gathering since July and the first since their meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York on Sept. 21 — roughly a month ago.

The three ministers are expected to assess North Korea's recent ballistic missile launches and the growing closeness between Pyongyang and Beijing following Kim Jong-un's visit to China, and to discuss ways to coordinate their response toward the North.

With Seoul emphasizing its role as a "pacemaker" for resuming North Korea-US dialogue, attention will focus on whether the ministers also exchange views on ways to draw North Korea back to the negotiating table.

At their Sept. 21 meeting in New York, the three foreign ministers reaffirmed their commitment to North Korea's complete denuclearization and urged Pyongyang to return to dialogue.

The joint statement from that meeting stressed that the door to dialogue remains open, reaffirmed their commitment to preventing revenue generation in support of North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile programs, and welcomed progress in the activities of the UN Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team and efforts to counter North Korean cyber threats.

Cho is also scheduled to hold bilateral talks with senior European counterparts on the sidelines of the G20 foreign ministers' meeting. A separate bilateral meeting or encounter between the South Korean and US foreign ministers, beyond the trilateral session, is still being arranged.