---
kind: "section"
citation: "22 U.S.C. § 9231"
title: "22"
title_heading: "Foreign Relations and Intercourse"
number: "9231"
heading: "Sense of Congress on trilateral cooperation between the United States, South Korea, and Japan"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/22/9231"
units:
  - "Chapter 99 — North Korea Sanctions and Policy Enhancement"
  - "Subchapter II — Sanctions Against North Korean Proliferation, Human Rights Abuses, and Illicit Activities"
---

# §9231. Sense of Congress on trilateral cooperation between the United States, South Korea, and Japan

- (a) **In general—** It is the sense of Congress that the President—
  - (1) should seek to strengthen high-level trilateral mechanisms for discussion and coordination of policy toward [North Korea](/usc/22/9202.md?p=11) between the Government of the United States, the Government of [South Korea](/usc/22/9202.md?p=15), and the Government of Japan;
  - (2) should ensure that the mechanisms specifically address [North Korea](/usc/22/9202.md?p=11)’s nuclear, ballistic, and conventional weapons programs, its human rights record, and cybersecurity threats posed by [North Korea](/usc/22/9202.md?p=11);
  - (3) should ensure that representatives of the United States, [South Korea](/usc/22/9202.md?p=15), and Japan meet on a regular basis and include representatives of the United States Department of State, the United States Department of Defense, the United States [intelligence community](/usc/22/9202.md?p=8), and representatives of counterpart agencies in [South Korea](/usc/22/9202.md?p=15) and Japan; and
  - (4) should continue to brief the relevant congressional committees regularly on the status of such discussions.
- (b) **Relevant committees—** The relevant committees referred to in [subsection (a)(4)](#a-4) shall include—
  - (1) the Committee on Foreign Relations, the Committee on Armed Services, and the Select Committee on Intelligence of the Senate; and
  - (2) the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Committee on Armed Services, and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence of the House of Representatives.

## Source credit

(Pub. L. 114–122, title II, § 211, Feb. 18, 2016, 130 Stat. 111.)