SEOUL – Japan, China and South Korea held talks Tuesday on laying the groundwork for a trilateral summit and other issues of interest.
Officials at the deputy director general level met in Seoul to prepare for the sixth trilateral summit among the three neighbors.
“The talks were held to discuss at the working level the preparations for a trilateral summit and ways to promote cooperation among the three countries,” South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman Noh Kwang-il told a press briefing.
Noh said there was little chance the participants would name a date for the envisioned summit at Tuesday’s talks. He said this was more likely to come “through diplomatic channels.”
The annual three-way summit has been suspended since May 2012, mainly because China and South Korea perceive Japan as not having done enough to atone for its atrocities committed before and during World War II.
China and South Korea agreed earlier this month at a summit in Beijing to realize a trilateral summit with Japan by late October at the earliest.
South Korea currently holds the rotating chair of the trilateral framework.
