Japan, China, S. Korea Eye Meeting of Foreign Ministers

Seoul, Sept. 11 (Jiji Press)--Subcabinet-level foreign affairs officials from Japan, China and South Korea agreed Thursday to explore the possibility of holding a meeting of the three countries' foreign ministers by the end of the year, according to sources in South Korea's Foreign Ministry. At their meeting in Seoul, the officials also agreed to maintain and advance the momentum of trilateral cooperation by overcoming difficulties and continuing close communications. No foreign ministers' meeting has been held among the three countries since April 2012. The trilateral subcabinet-level foreign affairs meeting, the first of its kind since November last year, was attended by Japanese Deputy Foreign Minister Shinsuke Sugiyama, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin and South Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Lee Kyung-soo. Sugiyama, Liu and Lee reviewed the results the three countries have achieved so far through their cooperation in nuclear safety, environmental conservation and other areas, and confirmed their intentions to continue working together. They also affirmed the need to pave the way for a summit among the three countries, but were unable to discuss details such as when and where it should be held, according to the Japanese and South Korean participants. Japan, China and South Korea started to hold an annual meeting of their leaders in 2008. But no three-way summit has taken place since May 2012 due mainly to strained Japan-China relations reflecting history and other issues. Tokyo and Beijing are seeking to arrange a meeting between Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum summit in Beijing in November. END