South Korea, China, Japan agree to restore and normalize trilateral cooperation, Beijing promises to help stabilize the Korean Peninsula

On November 26, South Korea, China and Japan agreed to speed up preparations for a trilateral summit as soon as possible.

Hàn-Trung-Nhật nhất trí khôi phục và bình thường hóa hợp tác ba bên. (Nguồn: Kyodo)

South Korea, China and Japan agreed to restore and normalize trilateral cooperation. (Source: Kyodo)

The information was released after South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin held a trilateral meeting with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi and Japanese counterpart Yoko Kamikawa in Busan, South Korea.

This is the first foreign ministerial meeting in four years between the three countries.

Speaking to reporters after the talks that afternoon, Foreign Minister Park Jin said that at the meeting, the three countries agreed to "restore and normalize" trilateral cooperation; at the same time, they agreed to promote the organization of a summit between the leaders of the three countries at the earliest time convenient for all parties.

In the coming time, countries will speed up preparations for the conference.

According to Foreign Minister Park Jin, it is important to institutionalize trilateral cooperation into a stable and sustainable mechanism. To do that, it is necessary to seek substantive cooperation projects that “people of the three countries can feel.”

Regarding North Korea's launch of a military reconnaissance satellite on November 21, the South Korean Foreign Minister said that the three sides agreed to continue communication at all levels to resolve security issues on the Korean Peninsula.

Mr. Park also said he has asked Japan and China to support Korea in winning the right to host the 2030 World Expo in Busan.

For his part, Japanese Foreign Minister Kamikawa stressed that trilateral cooperation is becoming increasingly important because it “contributes greatly to peace and prosperity” even in times of unprecedented challenges such as climate change and artificial intelligence.

Ms. Kamikawa expressed her hope that this trilateral negotiation will be an opportunity to restart the cooperation process between the three countries.

Meanwhile, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi pointed out that trilateral cooperation has “huge potential, strong demand and abundant resources.” He called on the three countries to play a more serious role in regional and global development.

South Korea, China and Japan have not held a trilateral summit since the last one took place in the southwestern Chinese city of Chengdu in December 2019.

The delay in holding the summit was partly due to the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak, and partly due to the deterioration of South Korea-Japan relations over Tokyo's wartime forced labor issue.

Currently, negotiations to restore the summit mechanism between the three East Asian countries are attracting great public attention in the context of Korea-Japan relations having significantly improved after Korea decided in March this year to compensate victims of forced labor without requiring Japanese companies to pay.

Earlier the same day, South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin held separate talks with his Chinese and Japanese counterparts.

During a meeting with Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Park Jin asked China to play a "constructive" role after North Korea scrapped the inter-Korean military tension reduction agreement signed on September 19, 2018. Park also stressed the importance of Korea-China cooperation in stabilizing the supply chain and ensuring the safety of Korean companies doing business in China, as well as facilitating the exchange of cultural content.

In response, Mr. Wang Yi made it clear that China will help ensure the stability of the Korean Peninsula.

In a bilateral meeting with his Japanese counterpart Yoko Kamikawa, South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin discussed ways to boost bilateral ties after the two countries eased tensions over compensation for wartime forced labor victims. This is Japanese Foreign Minister Kamikawa's first visit to South Korea since she took office in September.

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