President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida discussed cooperation in the hydrogen sector at a symposium at Stanford University in California on Friday.

In his remarks, Yoon said South Korea, Japan and the United States had agreed to develop trilateral cooperation into a "comprehensive" cooperative system during a trilateral summit in August.

He called for bolstering trilateral cooperation and joint leadership in advanced technology, artificial intelligence, digital governance, carbon reduction and clean energy, as well as exercising joint leadership in those sectors.

In the conversation with former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, the two leaders discussed cooperation in the hydrogen sector.

The South Korean presidential office explained that Korea has a globally dominant position in hydrogen cars, fuel cell distribution and other aspects of the hydrogen economy, while Japan has the most number of hydrogen-related patents.

It added that if the two countries come together, they could drastically reduce the costs of hydrogen production and adoption and take the lead in discussing relevant international rules for the sector.

Before the discussion, the two leaders met with the heads of Korean and Japanese startups operating in Silicon Valley.