By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
South Korea, China and Japan will set up a joint Web site where they can discuss major issues of mutual concern including forming a regional cooperation framework, a report said Sunday.
Through the ``Cyber Bureau,'' the three Northeast Asian nations will create a multilateral cooperation mechanism for the region and discuss cooperative projects and summit agenda, Yonhap News Agency said, quoting unnamed diplomatic sources here.
The leaders of the three countries are expected to agree on the plan during the ASEAN+3 Summit opening in Singapore, Tuesday, according to the report.
``The three nations share the need to have a permanent consultative body to further facilitate cooperation between them, separate from existing multinational regional forums,'' a source was quoted as saying. ``But the time is not ripe yet for creating such a body. So we agreed to launch a cyber bureau first to lay the groundwork for the scheme.''
South Korea will run the Web site whose contents are to be translated into English.
South Korea, Japan and China often have disputes over political and historical issues. The countries, however, have failed to have their own forums to resolve these matters, only resorting to occasional bilateral meetings on the sidelines of international or regional forums, or talks between their leaders or foreign ministers.
Last June, the foreign ministers from the three countries agreed to hold bilateral meetings frequently during talks on South Korea's resort island of Jeju.