The leaders of Japan, China and South Korea agreed Friday in Singapore that their countries should hold top-level trilateral meetings on a regular basis.
They also agreed to designate 2002 -- when Japan and South Korea jointly host the soccer World Cup and Tokyo and Beijing mark 30 years of normalized ties -- as a year to promote cultural and human exchanges among the three nations.
"Announcing that we will meet regularly is very meaningful as it will send a message to the international community that the three countries are aggressively working toward peace and stability in Asia," Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori said during a press photo opportunity.
Mori, Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji and South Korean President Kim Dae Jung agreed to the idea of regular meetings as proposed by Kim, who hosted breakfast talks among the three at a Singapore hotel.