Park will attend trilateral summit in Tokyo next month: Cheong Wa Dae

The presidential office Cheong Wa Dae reaffirmed Friday that President Park Geun-hye will attend a summit with the leaders of China and Japan in Tokyo next month.

The decision came amid growing calls for her to step down over a corruption and influence-peddling scandal involving her longtime confidante.

"The schedule for the summit has yet to be finalized, but I understand (Park) will attend (the summit) if the schedule is fixed," Jung Youn-kuk, presidential spokesman, told reporters.

Japanese media reported that the leaders of the three Northeast Asian countries seek to hold their summit on Dec. 19-20. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe are expected to join the summit.

The three-way summit resumed in Seoul late last year after it had been suspended for a few years due to long-festering historical and territorial feuds. The summit was instituted in 2008 to bolster cooperation on a range of regional and global issues.

Defying mounting public pressure to resign, Park started to resume her official duties this week. Until last week, she had remained low key, leaving her presidential functions virtually at a standstill.

Later in the day, Park is to officially confer appointment certificates to her new secretaries and other senior government officials, and letters of credence to five new ambassadors, including Cho Tae-yul, South Korea's ambassador to the United Nations.

Park is also considering presiding over a Cabinet meeting next week, a source said. (Yonhap)