LIMA (Kyodo) -- The leaders of the United States, Japan and South Korea on Friday agreed to establish a secretariat to help advance their trilateral cooperation, the White House said.

The new entity will be aimed at further aligning their objectives and actions to make the Indo-Pacific "a thriving, connected, resilient, stable, and secure region."

As U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's second term and his go-it-alone approach to foreign affairs loom large, U.S. President Joe Biden, Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol met in Lima on the sidelines of an international meeting.

They said in a joint statement, "We are proud of the partnership we have built," with the belief that the three-way relationship will be "a ballast of peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific for years to come."

"We've now reached a moment of significant political change," Biden said in his remarks to the Japanese and South Korean leaders. He added that he hopes the partnership is "built to last."

Ishiba, who became Japan's leader in early October, said, "In order to effectively respond to international challenges of intensifying complexity, our trilateral partnership has become more important than ever."

While it remains to be seen if Trump will support the format, the three current leaders discussed North Korea, especially as it test-fired an intercontinental ballistic missile for the first time in about a year just days before the U.S. election in which the former president decisively won against Vice President Kamala Harris.

In the statement, they also denounced North Korea along with Russia for "dangerously" widening Moscow's war against Ukraine.

The meeting was held on the sidelines of this year's summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum being hosted by Peru.

Biden is particularly proud of having hosted what he often calls a "historic" trilateral summit with former Japan Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Yoon in August last year at the U.S. presidential retreat of Camp David near Washington.

After years of heightened tensions between Japan and South Korea over wartime issues, Biden played a pivotal role in widening the scope of three-way cooperation from primarily focusing on North Korea to addressing other realms, such as economic security and emerging technologies.

It was the first time since the Camp David summit for Japan, the United States and South Korea to organize such an occasion for their leaders, but officials of the three countries from across government agencies have held scores of meetings over the past months.

In the months leading up to last week's U.S. presidential election, Biden administration officials ramped up efforts to "institutionalize" the trilateral framework as well as a "latticework" of partnerships with like-minded countries that had been fortified during Biden's term.

Ahead of the three-way meeting, Ishiba met with Biden for the first time in the Peruvian capital and is believed to have agreed with him that the decades-old alliance between their countries has never been stronger and will continue to be foundational for peace in the region and beyond.

Biden, who was close with Ishiba's predecessor Kishida, has repeatedly highlighted that the United States and Japan have significantly broadened cooperation under his administration, which ends in January.