Cheong Wa Dae confirms Moon-Abe-Xi summit

By Kim Bo-eun

Cheong Wa Dae confirmed a summit among the leaders of South Korea, Japan and China will take place, in a meeting with Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono, Wednesday.

“With regards to the summit of South Korea, Japan and China set to be hosted in Japan next month, President Moon Jae-in highly evaluated the efforts the Japanese government has taken to host the meeting, and pledged the government will cooperate for its success,” presidential spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom said in a written statement following the meeting.

This is Cheong Wa Dae's first confirmation of the summit. Up until now, it only said the states were pushing to hold the summit in early May.

In the meeting at Cheong Wa Dae, Moon and Kono affirmed the need for the two countries to strengthen ties at a time when preparations are taking place for summits seeking to address the denuclearization of North Korea.

Moon requested Japan to “assume a constructive role” in achieving the goal of denuclearization and lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula.

Kono expressed Tokyo's wishes for Seoul to cooperate in resolving the issue of abducted Japanese nationals who are believed to be in the North.

Moon also called for a bilateral deal to be reached soon on fishing in the two countries' Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ). The failure to reach a deal for two years has endangered the livelihoods of South Korean fishermen, Moon said.

Before the meeting with President Moon, the foreign minister met with his counterpart Kang Kyung-wha and National Intelligence Service Director Suh Hoon.

This is Kono's first visit since he was appointed last August and the first visit by a Japanese foreign minister since December 2015 when his predecessor Fumio Kishida came and concluded a controversial agreement with the Park Geun-hye government on Japan's wartime sexual enslavement of Korean women.

The visit is seen as an effort to ensure Tokyo is not sidelined in discussions on the denuclearization process. The Seoul-Pyongyang summit will be held April 27, and the one with Washington in late May or June.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump next week is also seen to have been arranged in the same context.

Tokyo is known to have been in contact with Pyongyang seeking to arrange a summit, but no details of any exchanges have been made public.

In Kono's meetings, it was agreed that the details of the two summits with North Korea would be shared with Japan.

Kono requested that Tokyo's stance on the North's nuclear and missile issues, as well as that of the abductions of Japanese citizens, be conveyed by Moon to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un during their summit.

In Kono's meeting with Kang he asked about the ongoing preparations for the summit, and was briefed on the results of the high- and working-level inter-Korean meetings that have been held so far.

At the summit, the Koreas are mainly set to discuss the North's denuclearization, the achievement of lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula and developing inter-Korean relations.

Seoul and Tokyo remain at odds over historical and territorial issues such as the sex slave deal and ownership of South Korea's easternmost islets of Dokdo, but have agreed to pursue “future-oriented” relations.

South Korea's foreign ministry is reviewing plans to set up a taskforce to promote cultural and personnel exchanges with Japan.