Korea, China, Japan to hold summit Dec. 13 over financial crisis

LIMA, Nov. 20 (Yonhap) -- South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao are scheduled to hold tripartite talks in Fukuoka, Japan, on Dec. 13 to discuss closer cooperation in fighting the global financial crisis and denuclearizing North Korea, Lee's office said.
The Fukuoka meeting will be the first three-way summit talks to be held
separately from multilateral international forums. The three countries have met
annually on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
Plus Three summit.
The three countries had originally intended to meet in Japan in September, but
the plan was scrapped due to the sudden resignation of then Japanese Prime
Minister Yasuo Fukuda.
"The December meeting will be the first three-way summit to be held in one of the
three countries. It will help further boost their cooperation," an aide for
President Lee said.
He said expansion of foreign currency swap deals among the three countries and a
recent agreement by members of the ASEAN Plus Three to create an US$80 billion
joint fund by next June to fight a regional financial crisis will be on the
agenda of the Fukuoka summit talks.
The region's leaders had agreed on the sidelines of the Asia-Europe Summit in
October to accelerate their multilateral cooperation to create the $80 billion
joint fund within the first half of next year and establish an independent
regional financial market surveillance organization.
President Lee is currently on a state visit to Peru ahead of his attendance at
the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum over the weekend.
ycm@yna.co.kr
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