China, Japan, S Korea highlight unity amid North Korea moves
MARCH TO PEACE: PM Abe said further efforts on denuclearisation were essential
TOKYO: China, Japan and South Korea agreed on Wednesday to cooperate in seeking the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula, with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe saying recent positive momentum must be matched by “concrete action” by North Korea.
North Korea, which has been pursuing nuclear and missile programmes in defiance of UN Security Council resolutions, figured prominently in talks between the three leaders in Tokyo after South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s historic meeting last month with the North’s Kim Jong Un. Kim is expected to have a summit soon with US President Donald Trump.
Leaders of the three Asian powers, whose ties have been strained by territorial and historical disputes, also touched on economics in the face of US trade pressure on China and Japan.
Abe praised efforts by Moon and China to engage North Korea and said further efforts on denuclearisation were essential.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang also attended the three-way summit, which was last held in Seoul in 2015.
Moon said the three countries agreed to highlight unity as the two Koreas moved towards a permanent peace settlement.
North and South Korea are technically still at war because their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a treaty. In talks with Moon later on Wednesday, Abe expressed Japan’s concern that pressure on North Korea might be lifted too early as a “reward” for its shutting down its nuclear test site or halting missile launches.
Abe called for additional, specific action, a spokesman for South Korea’s presidential office said in a Tokyo briefing.
Moon assured Abe that no such steps would be taken without conferring with the United Nations, the United States and others.
Trump’s trade pressure on China and Japan, the world’s second and third-largest economies, appeared to have had an impact as Li urged swifter discussions on regional free trade deals, such as a Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership backed by Beijing.
“We are all beneficiaries of free trade and even though various issues have emerged, these should not stand in the way,” Li said. “Through actual behaviour, let’s show that we three nations support engaging in free trade.”