Korea, China, Japan will hold talks for 3-way summit

By Jun Ji-hye

Working-level talks between Korea, China and Japan are scheduled for Sept. 15 to work out details of a trilateral summit expected to be held in late October or early November, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Tuesday.

Ministry spokesman Noh Kwang-il said at a regular briefing that working-level officials from the three countries will meet at the Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat (TCS) headquartered in Seoul.

“Officials are planning to discuss details of the summit, such as timing, as well as joint projects between the three nations,” he said.

The planning of the working-level talks followed last week’s agreement between President Park Geun-hye and her Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping to hold a trilateral meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in late October or early November.

Park and Xi reached the agreement during their summit when the former visited Beijing to attend China’s ceremony to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II.

Japan showed a favorable response to the proposal with its Foreign Ministry reportedly expressing its will to cooperate so the trilateral meeting can take place at the earliest possible date.

Korea and China have been at odds with Japan over historical and territorial issues. The conflicts between Japan and its neighboring countries seemed to deepen last month because Abe failed to offer a direct apology for Japan’s atrocities during the war in his statement made on the anniversary of the end of World War II.

But Park and Xi refrained from attacking Tokyo during their summit.

The Japanese media also expected a Seoul-Tokyo bilateral summit to be achieved along with the trilateral meeting.

Park has said that Japan should first show a responsible attitude regarding the issue of former Korean sex slaves used by Japanese soldiers during the war before a Seoul-Tokyo summit takes place.

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