South Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Chung Byung-won (C), Japanese Senior Deputy Foreign Minister Takehiro Funakoshi (L) and Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Nong Rong pose for a photo prior to a high-level meeting at a Seoul hotel on Sept. 26, 2023, to discuss three-way cooperation and explore the possibility of resuming the long-stalled summit of their leaders. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, Sept. 26 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea, China and Japan held a high-level meeting Tuesday to discuss three-way cooperation and explore the possibility of resuming the long-stalled summit of their leaders.
The trilateral senior officials’ meeting held in Seoul brought together South Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Chung Byung-won; Takehiro Funakoshi, Japan’s senior deputy foreign minister; and Nong Rong, China’s assistant minister of foreign affairs.
On Monday, Chung held separate bilateral talks with his Japanese and Chinese counterparts. South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin also met with Chung, Funakoshi and Nong the previous day.
South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin (2nd from R) poses for a photo with a delegation of the South Korea-Japan-China Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM) on Sept. 25, 2023. From left are South Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Chung Byung-won; Takehiro Funakoshi, Japan’s senior deputy foreign minister; Park; and Nong Rong, China’s assistant minister of foreign affairs. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
Park asked the officials to “work closely together” and “to produce tangible outcomes, which will produce benefits that can be felt by the people of the three countries.”
Three-way summits among the three neighbors — first held in December 2008 — have been suspended since 2019 following a dispute between South Korea and Japan over forced labor compensation rulings and the pandemic.
Talks on the need to revive tripartite summit diplomacy have surfaced following a thaw in the frozen ties between Seoul and Tokyo since the launch of the current South Korean administration of President Yoon Suk Yeol in May of last year.
As the current chair of the trilateral cooperation mechanism, South Korea has been pushing to host the summit within the year.
(Yonhap)
