(The Hague=Yonhap News) Correspondent Jeong Bit-na = The United States has decided not to attend the special meeting with the four Indo-Pacific countries (IP4), including South Korea, scheduled for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit.

According to NATO on the 24th (local time), the 'US+NATO+IP4' meeting, originally scheduled for the afternoon of the 25th, the second day of the meeting, was changed to the 'NATO+IP4' format. In a background briefing that day, a NATO official responded to a related question, saying,"We originally planned to hold it with the US participating, but it was not possible due to scheduling issues."

NATO had previously announced that a meeting would be held between US President Donald Trump, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, and the leaders of the IP4 countries of South Korea, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand.

However, as the leaders of three countries, excluding New Zealand, among the IP4 countries officially announced that they would not attend, there was speculation that President Trump would not attend as well. It is interpreted that the US has completely dropped out in the process of finalizing the status of each country's representative and the meeting schedule. From Korea, National Security Office Director Wi Seong-rak is scheduled to attend.

In a press conference held the day before, when asked about the consequences of the absence of the leaders of three of the IP4 countries, Secretary-General Rutte said,"Very high-level representatives will be coming and having important meetings," and warned against over-interpreting the event, saying,"For an event like this held in the summer, the schedule can change on a daily basis."