청 "No Discussion or Proposal to Expand G7 to D11... Moon and Suga Exchanged Greetings Twice"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] The Blue House has stated that there was "no such discussion" about expanding the Group of Seven (G7) to the D11 during the G7 summit held in Cornwall, UK.

A government official familiar with the G7 summit process responded to reporters' questions on the private plane heading to Austria on the 13th (local time), saying, "There was no such discussion, and no such proposal was made this year."

The Nikkei newspaper reported the previous day that there was a discussion at this G7 summit to include South Korea, Australia, India, and South Africa in the G7 to expand it to the D11 as a measure to counter China, but it was scrapped due to Japan's opposition.

The much-anticipated Korea-Japan summit at this G7 ultimately did not take place. Regarding this, an official explained, "Prime Minister Suga and our President greeted each other twice at the meeting venue," adding, "When entering multilateral meetings, it is customary to greet each other around the table at the beginning, saying 'How are you?' That was the extent of the greetings."

At this G7 summit, member countries explicitly targeted China by mentioning Xinjiang Uyghur, Hong Kong, and Taiwan in the joint statement. South Korea, as an invited country, did not participate in this but instead took part in the 'Open Societies Statement,' which emphasizes human rights and democracy.

In response to a reporter's question about whether such moves might provoke China, the official replied, "If you read the content, there is nothing that targets any specific country," adding, "One of the reasons we participated in this statement is because it addresses the threats the entire world is currently facing."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.