OSAKA — When the foreign ministers of Japan, China, and South Korea gather in Kyoto this weekend for their long-delayed summit, they will do so amid rising public concern in all three countries about radiation leaking from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant and the future of nuclear energy in East Asia.
Foreign Minister Takeaki Matsumoto will meet with his Chinese counterpart, Yang Jiechi, and South Korean Foreign Minister Kim Sung Hwan on Saturday afternoon for a trilateral meeting and separate bilateral meetings. The summit, originally scheduled to last two days, has been shortened to just a day due to the disaster.
South Korea had originally hoped one result from Saturday's gathering would be strong support from the ministers for an agreement between Japan and South Korea to hand over more than 1,200 volumes of Korean texts, including a collection of Chosun Dynasty royal protocols that were seized by Japan during its colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula between 1910 and 1945. Former Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara and Kim informally agreed to the return last December.