Japan, China and South Korea have agreed that their foreign ministers will hold talks in Seoul by the end of the year, diplomatic sources said on Wednesday.
The meeting, which would be the first since April 2012, is expected to set the stage for Japanese Prime Minster Shinzo Abe, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and South Korean President Park Geun-hye to meet in the first half of 2015, the sources said.
Abe's summit meeting on Monday with Chinese President Xi Jinping, the first since the prime minister took office in 2012, has apparently bolstered the likelihood of a thaw in relations among the three Asian countries, whose governments differ over historical issues and territorial disputes.