Korea, China, Japan agree to hold tripartite summit at 'earliest convenient time'
Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Chung Byung-won, center, Japanese Senior Deputy Foreign Minister Takehiro Funakoshi, left, and Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Nong Rong pose before a high-level meeting at a Seoul hotel, Sept. 26, to discuss three-way cooperation and explore the possibility of resuming the long-stalled summit of their leaders. Yonhap
Korea, China and Japan held a high-level meeting Tuesday and agreed to resume their long-stalled trilateral summit at the "earliest convenient time," the foreign ministry said.
The countries held a trilateral senior officials' meeting in Seoul earlier in the day, which brought together Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Chung Byung-won; Takehiro Funakoshi, Japan's senior deputy foreign minister; and Nong Rong, China's assistant minister of foreign affairs.
The meeting was arranged to discuss the resumption of a trilateral cooperation mechanism between the neighboring countries, including the possibility of the revival of three-way summits, which have remained dormant since 2019.
"During the high-level meeting held this morning among Korea, Japan and China, the three countries agreed to hold a trilateral summit at the earliest convenient time and to promptly convene a meeting of the foreign ministers from each country to prepare for the summit," Lim Soo-suk, spokesperson for the ministry, told a regular press briefing, without offering a specific time frame.
A senior ministry official told reporters that Seoul has proposed six key areas, including people-to-people exchanges, science technology and digital, sustainable development, and climate change.
The ministry has also proposed holding the envisioned foreign ministers' meeting in the country's southeastern port city of Busan, where Korea is campaigning to host the 2030 World Expo, according to the official.
The three sides reportedly agreed to discuss arranging the ministerial meeting to be held in November.
According to officials, the three sides did not discuss issues related to Taiwan or Japan's Fukushima water discharge.
On Monday, Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin met with the three officials and asked them to "work closely together" and "to produce tangible outcomes, which will produce benefits that can be felt by the people of the three countries."
Three-way summits among the three neighbors -- first held in December 2008 -- have been suspended since 2019 following a dispute between Korea and Japan over forced labor compensation rulings and the pandemic.
Talks on the need to revive tripartite summit diplomacy have surfaced following a thaw in the frozen ties between Seoul and Tokyo since the launch of the current Korean administration of President Yoon Suk Yeol in May of last year.
As the current chair of the trilateral cooperation mechanism, Korea has been pushing to host the summit within the year. (Yonhap)