Biden meets South Korea, Japan leaders for pre-Trump huddle on risk

16/11/2024 6:25

        U.S. President Joe Biden will meet with Japan and South Korea's leaders on Friday as they seek to preserve their diplomatic progress ahead of a new Trump
        administration that many fear could upend alliances worldwide.
        
        The meeting between Washington and two of its closest Asian allies comes as U.S. relations with Beijing are expected to grow more confrontational after Donald Trump's Jan. 20 inauguration, given his promises of sharp tariff hikes that could hobble China's economy.
        
        North Korea's deployment of troops to Russia to support Russia's war in Ukraine, as well as North Korea's nuclear weapons program and dimming prospects for a peaceful resolution to a decades-long conflict with South Korea are also raising tensions in Asia.
        
        The meeting at 2:30 p.m. ET (1900 GMT) on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit in Lima, Peru, brings Biden, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who assumed office in October, together in person for the first time.