; Whereas President Yoon Suk Yeol took the courageous and bold step of announcing that the Government of the Republic of Korea would compensate Korean victims of Japanese wartime labor in order to facilitate the resolution of an issue that has hampered cooperation with Japan; Whereas a robust and effective trilateral relationship between and among the United States, the Republic of Korea, and Japan is critical for joint security and interests in defending freedom and democracy, upholding human rights, promoting peace, security, and the rule of law in the Indo-Pacific and across the globe, championing women’s empowerment, and combating and adapting to complex environmental challenges; Whereas the American and Korean people share deeply rooted values of defending freedom, championing economic development, upholding human rights, and respecting the rule of law; Whereas the United States, the Republic of Korea, and Japan have held a series of trilateral meetings, including a trilateral leaders’ summit on November 13, 2022, a Foreign Ministers’ meeting on September 23, 2022, and a vice ministerial meeting on February 13, 2023, at which the three countries committed to continuing trilateral exercises on ballistic missile defense and anti-submarine warfare, and further determined to explore new areas of security cooperation, including sharing DPRK missile warning data in real time; Whereas the Republic of Korea is the United States’ seventh largest goods trading partner with $162,900,000,000 in total (two-way) goods trade and $31,500,000,000 in total services trade for a combined $194,400,000,000 in 2021, and is one of the United States top sources of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), which totaled $110,600,000,000 in 2021 and, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, South Korea multinational enterprises (MNEs) in the United States employed almost 84,000 employees in 2020