Nam Hyun-woo has worked as a staff writer at The Korea Times since 2013, mostly covering business and politics. He currently belongs to the Business Desk where he covers topics such as emerging tech, AI, ICT and Korea's chaebol community. Prior to joining the team, he was the paper's correspondent for the presidential office of Korea during the Yoon Suk Yeol and Moon Jae-in administrations.
Korea, Japan share commitment to 3-way summit involving China
President Yoon Suk Yeol shakes hands with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida during their summit at the Bharat Mandapam International Convention Center in New Delhi, Sunday (local time). Joint Press Corps
By Nam Hyun-woo
By Nam Hyun-woo
NEW DELHI ― President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida shared their commitment to holding a trilateral summit between Korea, Japan and China, during a meeting on the sidelines of the Group of 20 (G20) Summit in New Delhi, India, Sunday.
Yoon and Kishida held a 20-minute summit around noon, marking their sixth meeting over the past six months.
According to Seoul's presidential office, Yoon told Kishida that they should combine efforts to pursue the Korea-Japan-China summit. Kishida expressed his intention to take proactive steps to support that goal.
“The leaders recognized the recent developments in bilateral relations and discussed ways to improve their two-way partnership,” the office said in a press release. “The leaders also promised to coordinate with each other on pending global issues.”
After Yoon visited Tokyo in March to seek a breakthrough in chilled bilateral relations, the ties between Seoul and Tokyo have improved quickly.
This became the foundation of a strengthened three-way cooperation between Korea, the United States and Japan, and their leaders set up a quasi-alliance cooperation scheme during a trilateral summit at Camp David last month.
Yoon and Kishida are now turning their eyes to three-way relations involving China, in order to manage ties with Beijing amid its rivalry with Washington.
Before the summit with Kishida, Yoon also had a brief encounter with Chinese Premier Li Qiang and expressed hopes of holding another meeting with him “within this year,” apparently referring to the trilateral summit between Seoul, Tokyo and Beijing.
Three-way summits between the regional neighbors, first held in December 2008, were suspended after the eighth gathering in December 2019 following a dispute between Korea and Japan over forced labor compensation rulings and the coronavirus pandemic. Korea is set to host the next edition.