>> great. thank you very much. we are here to be helpful. we will come back to you. i owe you a photo. it is a pleasure.

hosted by the center for strategic and international studies.

>> good morning, everyone. wow, that's loud. good morning everyone and welcome to csic. for our conference on strengthening u.s., japan, rok trilateral cooperation. my name is victor cha, professor at georgetown university. i want to welcome everybody here who joined us on this overcast morning in d.c. as well as many

of you who are joining us online. also grateful to the korea foundation for cohosting this conference with us. and in particular things to our participants who came from far away from japan and korea to join us here this morning. and so the question is why did they come from so far to join us here this morning.

north korea to create peace on the peninsula. shapes the environment to ensure there is no destabilizing behavior in the taiwan straight. the three allies have conducted over 30 meetings since the historic meeting at camp david on everything ranging from securing supply chains to missile defense, and we expect to see the first named tried lateral select sire size sometimes in the -- trilateralism really helps to stabilize the region. it does not provoke, does not cause japan, russia and north korea to draw closer. if anything it signals how strong the three allies are together which ensures a stable deterrence and discourages miscalculation. so we will spend a good part of the day looking at trilateralism in the context of deterrence, manning contingencies on the taiwan straight, and enhancing

the supply chains to economic coercion. with that, let's get started. we will have some opening remarks by deputy assistant secretary robert. let me properly introduce him. he is currently deputy assistant secretary for japan, korea and mongolia in the bureau of east asian and pacific affairs and a member of the senior foreign service at the u.s. department of state. previously he served as director of the office of mainland southeast asia as well as the director of the executive secretary of staff and the office of the secretary of state. prior to that he served as consul general in okinawa. special assistant to the undersecretary for economic growth, energy and environment. he also did a stint on the national security council where he was director for japan in asian regional economic affairs. so it is a distinct pleasure on the behalf of csic to invite him

to the stage. thank you so much for joining us this morning. [applause] >> good morning, friends, colleagues. it is a distinct pleasure to be here this morning among such esteemed company. it is great to be reconnecting with some friends that i had not seen in a while. it is great to see rob, my good friend. we worked together a decade ago. ambassador kim, always a pleasure. and so many friends and colleagues interested in this incredibly important and timely topic. so it is an honor to be among you today. very much looking forward to hearing about how the full day of conversations go. because for me as deputy assistant secretary in this role, it is extremely valuable

to have this range of intellectual input available to all of us here in the united states government. assistant secretary dan sends his regrets. he very much wanted to be here today to be a part of this important event. i know many of you are very good friends with dan. he is kept very busy working on a wide range of things today. as many of you saw come our new deputy secretary of state was just sworn in a few minutes ago. it is very exciting to see a new chapter there opening up as well. i wanted to maybe take a few minutes today to talk about the trilateral as i see it from where i sit in the state department. some of the things we have done, some of the things we can continue to do. and maybe scout out a few ideas for how we can work together going forward as well. of course as we all know, the

outcomes of the work from the camp david trilateral summit did not emerge in a vacuum. it was conceived with the overarching goal of strategic cooperation among our three countries during, as victor points out, a truly pivotal hinge point in our history. when geopolitical competition, climate crisis, russia's war of aggression against ukraine, and nuclear provocations test us all. at its core, the camp david trilateral summit set a mandate for collaboration and strategic alignment. it is also a beacon of hope for international diplomacy, a reminder of the power of collective action in the face of adversity. following that historic summit, we find ourselves attic article juncture in our trilateral relationship. the challenges we face are diverse and complex ranging from security threats and economic uncertainties, to the urgent need for cooperation on climate action. the commitment we made in the

patient we shared at camp david lay the groundwork for a future of consultations, high-level engagements, dialogues, security cooperation, including broadening cooperation in the into pacific, deepening economic and technology cooperation, expanding global health, and people to people cooperation. that is one that i always feel deeply in my heart, the people to people cooperation, having benefited from a couple of different cooperative programs in the region. as i know so many of my colleagues at the state department it. so it is imperative that we understand the challenges and opportunities and continue to move with a sense of urgency and purpose, ensuring our three country's collective efforts translate into real and tangible outcomes. and that everyone with a vested interest in the relationship understands the full mandate of the camp david summit. so i would like to highlight some of these commitments and maybe get a few thoughts i way of updates on what we have been up to since the summit.

first i would like to point to one of the most immediate outcomes from the camp david vision, which was the trilateral commitment to consult. recognizing the united states network of partners and allies is a cornerstone of making peace, stability, and prosperity. our collective leadership understood the collective need for trilateral cooperation. american alliances and partnerships are ou greatestr asset and it means standing shoulder to shoulder with allies and partners. our countries have coveted to consult with one another expeditiously to coordinate with provocations of threats that affect our collective interests and security. the summit was a culmination of numerous meetings between foreign ministers, defense ministers, national security advisor's, and other senior officials across the government. and we saw indeed that commitment to consult put into action just a few weeks after the summit, when our national security advisor's did a three

way call coming out of a set of provocations in the region. so just shortly after the trilateral was announced we were already moving forward with real-world coordination. we spent the last six months building on that and making sure that the trilateral cooperation was institutionalized across the united states government. not merely a top-down thing but at every layer of government and across a wide range of government agencies. so it really extends beyond the high-profile meetings with leaders and foreign ministers, encompassing a wide range of initiatives and dialogues across various levels and sectors. on the sidelines of a peck, secretary blinken met with japanese foreign minister, and then the arak foreign minister in san francisco. the three discussed the importance of greater economic cooperation and efforts to

strengthen regional security promoting economic prosperity and advancing a free and open into pacific. secretary of defense austin, the iraq and japanese ministers of defense conducted a meeting november 12 where they discussed shared regional security concerns and review the implementation of the trilateral security cooperation effort that we determined at camp david. jake sullivan met with counterparts for the fourth trilateral national security advisors meeting of the biden/harris administration. and as you well know, we have a fantastic opportunity this year in the u.n. security council with both the rok's and japan on the security council and our teams in new york are consulting and making sure that they have the mechanisms in place so that they can move quickly to push

forward with close consultation and we very much look forward to working trilateral he during japan's presidency in march and south korea's presidency in june. then in january, january 5, assistant secretary hosted a trilateral indo pacific dialogue along with his counterparts. to share the indo pacific views on opportunities for cooperation with a particular emphasis on partnership with southeast asian and pacific island countries. at that time we committed the trilateral maritime law enforcement cooperation with a focus for capacity building for southeast asia and pacific island countries. we also committed taking action to combat climate change and engaging with indo pacific earners on issues ranging from information, communications technology, cybersecurity, and emerging technology. these various forms of

cooperation underscore the commitment of the united states, japan, and the republic of korea to a comprehensive partnership that addresses both medium and long-term challenges to the indo pacific and beyond. of course we are committed to working trilateral he as well to adjust dprk, russia know a terry cooperation which only serves to prolong russia's war against ukraine, undermined the global nonpolar information regime, emboldened north korea's reckless inclinations, and more. we're grateful to the ambassador for all the work he did, really throughout his entire illustrious career. he was working hard to consult and risk communication between our three countries to unparalleled heights. so thank you. we're pursuing a calibrated approach to the dprk's escalatory actions based on the degree of threats they posed to the u.s. and our allies.

we continue to support closely with partners and allies about how to best engage the dprk, deter aggression, and coordinate international responses to the dprk's violations of multiple u.k. secured -- u.n. security council resolutions. we seek dialogue with pyongyang without preconditions. we remain committed to diplomacy, even as the dprk launches an unprecedented number of ballistic missiles and increases tension through harsh rhetoric and other provocations. we have also been clear with -- we will seek to cooperate on humanitarian issues regardless of the status of missile-related discussions and other discussions. our trilateral cooperation with japan and the republic of korea is essential as a foundation of our partnership and particularly in the security field. but that is not the only thing that makes this relationship so consequential.

we are also intensifying our economic partnership. japan and south korea support hundreds of thousands of u.s. jobs incredible civic -- in critical sectors. our three countries remain committed to working closely together to expand information sharing and enhance policy coordination on possible disruptions to global supply chains as well as to better prepare us to confront and overcome economic coercion. we cooperate closely under the mineral security partnership to secure critical minerals, to support the clean energy transition, while upgrading environmental and labor practices. we're working to enhance cooperation on technology protection measures, to prevent the cutting edge technologies we develop from being illegally exported or stolen abroad. to that end, we conducted inaugural exchanges between the u.s. disrupted technology strikeforce and japanese and

republic of korea counterparts to deepen information sharing and coordination across our enforcement agencies. we will also to continue strengthening trilateral -- to prevent art technologies from being diverted from military capabilities that could threaten international peace and security. we are seeing encouraging trilateral cooperation beyond governments as well. for me this is very exciting. in davos, the university of tokyo and the university of chicago signed a letter of intent to enhance their trilateral quantum cooperation. this agreement expands on existing quantum initiatives including ibm's collaboration with the university of chicago and university of tokyo on a quant from -- quantum-centric supercomputer. additionally, ibm plans to train 40,000 students in quantum technology through partnerships with five universities, promoting global quantum ecosystem and reinforcing the commitment among the three

countries to advance quantum research and workforce development. at camp david our three countries acknowledged the crucial role of artificial intelligence as a potentially transformative technology, and affirmed our respective efforts to help shape international governments on ai, and ensure safe, secure, and trustworthy ai in line with our shared democratic values. as you know, one of president biden's important initiatives is the cancer moonshot, to accelerate progress in the fight against cancer, preventing cancer incidence in deaths, improving treatment is critical, especially as our three countries see increasing cancer rates even among young people. this is an important area for trilateral cooperation as we can leverage our collaboration to make important advancements in cancer research and cancer treatment. at camp david, our leaders agreed on the importance of working together to combat for an manipulation as well. this work is particularly vital in the digital age where

misinformation can spread rapidly and influence public opinion, elections, and national security. by leveraging our collective strengths, we can enhance our defense against foreign information manipulation, and safeguard our democratic values. we signed two separate memoranda with republic of korea, as well as with japan, on increasing our cooperation in this area just in december. these new arrangements constitute a commitment by our partners to work bilaterally and multilaterally to build resilience toward the common security threat of foreign information manipulation. we welcome this shared recognition of the foundation for our shared cooperation in the space. and on the same day that president biden's trilateral leader summit with japan and republic of korea, the united states posted both countries on the form in seattle to further this engagement. during that discussion, all

three governments agreed to convene a 2024 conference on women's economic empowerment in washington, d.c. our team in the department is hard at work planning for this event to take place in the second or third quarter of this year and we look forward to continuing discussion on issues related to women's leadership in stem fields, the care economy, and many other issues. we're also continuing to deepen our cooperation as it relates to youth. the u.s. department of state in partnership with the ministry of education and republic of korea and the ministry of foreign affairs in japan, in collaboration with the east-west center, will host the first annual u.s., rok, japan trilateral level leadership youth summit in july. again, the person-to-person ties that we working on in this trilateral context i think is really fundamental to what we are doing, because these are three countries that are

connected through share values, rooted in democracy, and bringing people together and closer, as i have experienced throughout my career, is fundamental to the foundation on which our cooperation is based. so, i think looking back between camp david and now, we have come a long way, we have done a lot. and i know that everyone in this room has also put in a lot of time and effort to make contributions to advancing this work. going forward then, i want to continue to dedicate my time and resources to identify new areas of cooperation, further deepening the existing areas that we have. and as i do that, i very much look forward to the intellectual input, thoughts, ideas, and energy from the members of this forum and really across the academic world. i have found it to be extremely valuable. it informs my work every single day. and so, i would like to perhaps

challenge all of you to do what i am trying to do every day, and be flexible, creative, and ready to take on new ideas, ready to take on perhaps even long-standing challenges in new ways. and i commit myself and the time of the assistant secretary as well, to making sure we do everything we can to make this trilateral a success. thank you very much for having me here today. i appreciate the opportunity to speak with you all. i look forward to hearing the outcomes of the conversations. and thank you very much. good luck today. [applause]