South Korea, the United States and Japan are in talks to hold a three-way meeting between their top diplomats on the margins of a ministerial forum hosted by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations(ASEAN) underway in Malaysia.

According to diplomatic sources on Thursday, the three sides are discussing the trilateral dialogue as the ASEAN-led forum is scheduled to continue until Friday.

If the talks are held, First Vice Foreign Minister Park Yoon-joo, who is attending in the minister's place with the confirmation process of nominee Cho Hyun yet to be completed, would meet with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya.

Potential issues on the agenda include trilateral coordination against the increasing military cooperation between North Korea and Russia, as well as tariff negotiations with the Trump administration.

The three-way meeting, if held, would be the first of such kind since the Lee Jae Myung administration took office in early June.