Biden and Yoon hold their first summit in South Korea | News

North Korea’s nuclear and missile programme at the top of the agenda as Yoon hosts Biden for their first in-person talks in Seoul.

Seoul, South Korea – South Korea’s President Yoon Suk-yeol and his US counterpart, Joe Biden, are holding their first summit in the South Korean capital, with their talks set to focus on boosting ties amid concern over North Korean provocations, including warnings of an imminent nuclear or missile test.

Saturday’s summit at the People’s House in Seoul comes a day after Biden arrived in South Korea, on the first leg of an Asian tour that also includes a stop in neighbouring Japan.

The visit – Biden’s first as president – is aimed at reassuring allies of the United States’s commitment to the region and countering China’s growing influence at a time when the world’s focus has turned to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

A senior US official told reporters that Biden and Yoon’s discussions will touch on a wide range of topics, including North Korea, the Russia-Ukraine war, trade, technology, climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Speaking to reporters ahead of the summit, the official said the two leaders are expected to announce their intent to strengthen the South Korea-US alliance and will also reaffirm their commitment to the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.

They will discuss ways to tackle North Korea’s ongoing nuclear and missile programme, amid concern over a record 16 weapons launches carried out by Pyongyang this year. US and South Korean officials also say the North is preparing to test its seventh nuclear weapon, and could perhaps do so during Biden’s six-day Asia tour.

This is despite the North’s first confirmed COVID-19 outbreak, which has has infected an estimated 2 million people and killed 66.

Both the US and and South Korea have pledged help, but the North has shunned the offers so far.

“We are very concerned about the COVID situation”, the US official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. “We are very sensitive to the fact that they appear to be facing a quite serious situation, and I think you’ve seen we stand ready to work with others in the international community as needed to provide assistance.”

But he added, “we also want to make clear that the international community stands united in their opposition to their violations of UN Security Council violations and their destabilising and threatening behaviour”.

The talks between Yoon and Biden will last about two hours and the leaders are expected to hold a joint press conference after 15:30 local time (06:30 GMT).

Biden had begun his South Korea trip on Friday with a tour of a Samsung semiconductor factory in Pyeongtaek, south of Seoul.

In his first remarks on arrival, the US president called his country’s alliance with South Korea a “linchpin” of peace and prosperity for the region and said he looked forward to take it to “even greater heights”.

Yoon, who accompanied Biden on the tour, said he hoped that “the South Korea-US relationship will be born again into an economic security alliance based on cooperation on cutting-edge technology and supply chain”.

As part of the effort to boost economic ties, South Korea is expected to sign on to Biden’s Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, which the US leader will launch in Japan on Monday.