Korea-China-Japan Summit Consensus... Foreign Ministers Likely to Meet in Busan This November

Discussed at the Trilateral Deputy Minister Meeting... Six Major Cooperation Areas Established

Diplomatic authorities from South Korea, China, and Japan have agreed to hold the trilateral summit, which has not been held for nearly four years, as soon as possible. First, a trilateral foreign ministers' meeting is expected to take place in Busan this coming November.

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the 26th, the deputy foreign ministers of the three countries held a Senior Officials Meeting (SOM) in Seoul this morning and agreed to hold the summit "at the earliest convenient time." Participating in the SOM meeting were Jeong Byeong-won, Deputy Foreign Minister of South Korea, Takehiro Funakoshi, Director-General for Foreign Policy of Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Nong Rong, Deputy Director-General of China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. They discussed the schedule for resuming the trilateral summit, which has been suspended since the end of 2019.

Jeong Byeong-won, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs (center), is seen shaking hands and taking a commemorative photo with Takehiro Funakoshi, Director-General for Foreign Policy at the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (left), and Nunglung, Deputy Director-General of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ahead of the trilateral senior officials meeting (SOM) held on the morning of the 26th at Lotte Hotel in Seoul. [Image source=Yonhap News]

A Ministry of Foreign Affairs official told reporters after the meeting, "We agreed that holding the summit early is important to restore and normalize trilateral cooperation," adding, "There were various exchanges of opinions regarding the specific timing." In particular, the official explained the phrase "at the earliest convenient time" as "the earliest time possible given the circumstances." While the timing basically depends on the schedule coordination of the three leaders, there is a consensus among the three countries to hold the summit as soon as possible.

If the trilateral summit is held, President Yoon Suk-yeol, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, and Chinese Premier Li Qiang will attend. The three countries will continue to negotiate the specific timing through diplomatic channels.

The three countries of South Korea, China, and Japan also agreed to hold a foreign ministers' meeting to prepare for the summit within a couple of months. There is general agreement to hold the foreign ministers' meeting in November. South Korea has expressed its intention to host the meeting in Busan, and China and Japan have also shown positive responses. The plan to hold the foreign ministers' meeting in Busan is seen as reflecting the government's commitment to hosting the 2030 Busan Expo.

The three countries plan to hold another deputy director-general level meeting soon to conduct further consultations at the working level.

"Stalled South Korea-China-Japan Relations, First Step Toward Recooperation"

High-Level Meeting of Korea, China, and Japan [Image Source=Yonhap News]

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs described this SOM meeting as "the first step toward revitalizing trilateral government cooperation that had been stalled for the past four years." In particular, the three representatives agreed on the importance of producing tangible results that the people of South Korea, China, and Japan can feel, and identified six major areas of cooperation: ▲people-to-people exchanges ▲science and technology cooperation and digital transformation ▲sustainable development and climate change ▲health and aging ▲economic and trade cooperation ▲peace and security.

The government also presented a rough outline of cooperative projects to the Japanese and Chinese sides. The three countries plan to enhance friendly relations through exchanges among future generations and strengthen cooperation in environmental areas such as fine dust reduction. Peace and security cooperation may include the North Korean issue as a key element of regional peace and stability.

Discussions have also begun on specific outcomes to be produced when the summit resumes. A Ministry of Foreign Affairs official said, "We have not yet agreed on the wording, but discussed the overall structure of the (outcome document)," adding, "Basically, the trilateral summit focuses on substantive cooperation areas." At the last trilateral summit held in Chengdu, China, in December 2019, a result document titled "Vision Statement on Trilateral Cooperation for the Next 10 Years" was issued.

The Fukushima contaminated water issue was reportedly not mentioned at this SOM meeting. A Ministry of Foreign Affairs official said, "(South Korea-China-Japan cooperation) focuses on substantive and future-oriented cooperation areas, so as the chair country, it is my personal view that it is undesirable for such issues to be highlighted." He pointed out, "The advantage of the South Korea-China-Japan mechanism is that when bilateral relations are not good, they can still engage in mutually beneficial cooperation while improving bilateral relations," adding, "The very agreement to restore the mechanism shows that the three countries recognize the necessity of the trilateral cooperation mechanism."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.