Tokyo, Beijing, Seoul Mulling Statement on Nuke-Free N. Korea

Tokyo, May 7 (Jiji Press)--Japan, China and South Korea are considering issuing a special statement from their leaders at their upcoming summit to show their support for the denuclearization of North Korea, informed sources said Monday. At the summit, the Japanese, Chinese and South Korean governments are expected to welcome the Panmunjom declaration calling for "complete denuclearization" of the Korean Peninsula adopted at the inter-Korean summit on April 27. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and South Korean President Moon Jae-in will gather in Tokyo on Wednesday for the first summit among the three countries in two years and six months. The special statement would add to a joint statement mainly covering economic issues that will be adopted by the three leaders. At a meeting of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party on Monday, Abe said he will discuss the regional situation and bilateral issues with Li and Moon from all angles in order to build cooperative relations for the peace and prosperity in Asia. In the special statement, the three countries are likely to note their policy of achieving the denuclearization of North Korea, the sources said. The statement is also expected to express their hope for progress toward the denuclearization at a planned meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un that is expected to take place by early June. Tokyo, Beijing and Seoul are believed to be having last-minute negotiations on the special statement as they have differences over sanctions against North Korea. At the Tokyo meeting, the three leaders will also discuss ways to strengthen sports and cultural exchanges among their countries, ahead of the 2020 Summer Olympics and Paralympics in Tokyo and the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing, following the Pyeongchang Winter Games in South Korea earlier this year. The summit will also cover cooperation in the fields of air pollution, energy and disaster reduction, as well as a proposed trilateral free trade agreement. The three Asian countries started holding their summit talks in December 2008, basically as an annual event. But they failed to hold such a gathering every year due chiefly to deterioration in Japan-China and China-South Korea relations. The trilateral summit this time "takes place at an important time, soon after the inter-Korean summit and prior to the planned U.S.-North Korea summit," Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a press conference Monday. Japan wants to reaffirm cooperation with China and South Korea to ensure that North Korea abandons its weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles and resolves the issue of its abductions of Japanese nationals, he stressed. Japan hopes that the upcoming Tokyo meeting will be an opportunity to confirm the cooperation of the last 10 years under the trilateral summit framework and make a fresh start for the next 10 years, he added. END