Foreign Ministers of Korea, Japan, and China "Accelerate Necessary Preparations for Trilateral Summit"

Image source=Yonhap News

The foreign ministers of Korea, Japan, and China agreed at their meeting to accelerate preparations for the next step, a trilateral summit.

On the 26th, Foreign Minister Park Jin held a trilateral foreign ministers' meeting for about 1 hour and 40 minutes at the Nurimaru APEC House in Busan with Wang Yi, member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Foreign Minister of China, and Kamikawa Yoko, Foreign Minister of Japan. Minister Park told reporters, "We agreed to accelerate the necessary preparations for the summit."

Minister Park stated, "We reaffirmed the agreement to hold the summit, the pinnacle of the trilateral cooperation system, at the earliest mutually convenient time," adding, "We will strive to make the holding of the summit visible in the near future." However, Minister Park did not specify the exact timing of the trilateral summit.

Earlier in September, Korea, Japan, and China agreed at a deputy minister-level senior officials meeting to hold the summit at the "earliest mutually convenient time."

At the meeting, Minister Park presented three future directions: actively activating the stalled intergovernmental consultative body to solidify trilateral cooperation institutionalization, discovering practical cooperation that the three countries' citizens can feel, and expanding the foundation so that trilateral cooperation contributes to regional stability and prosperity.

Furthermore, Minister Park emphasized that North Korea's provocations, including the recent so-called military reconnaissance satellite launch and ballistic missile launches, are among the greatest threats to peace and stability in the region.

This trilateral foreign ministers' meeting among Korea, Japan, and China was held for the first time in about 4 years and 3 months since the meeting in Beijing, China, in August 2019.