S Korea’s Moon stresses on importance of N Korea talks

BEIJING: The leaders of China, Japan and South Korea are holding a trilateral summit in China this week amid feuds over trade, military manoeuvrings and historical animosities Most striking has been a complex dispute between Seoul and Tokyo, while Beijing has recently sought to tone down its disagreements with its two neighbours

Ahead of the summit, South Korean President Moon Jae In told Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Monday that it is “more important than anything” to keep up the momentum for talks between the US and North Korea

North Korea has set a year-end deadline for the US to change what it says is a policy of hostility amid a stalemate in efforts to make progress on their pledge to end the North’s nuclear programme and establish peace

China is North Korea’s most important diplomatic backer and trading partner, and Moon took his message about the significance of talks straight to Xi

“It is more important than anything to keep up the momentum for dialogue between North Korea and the United States,” Moon said, according to his spokeswoman Ko Min Jung who was present at the meeting in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People

Meanwhile, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told President

Xi that Hong Kong should “continue to be free and open”, as protest enter seventh month

In a press briefing after the Xi-abe meeting, Otaka Masato spokesman for the Japanese minister of foreign affairs - said Abe “urged China to continue its selfrestraint” over Hong Kong and expressed “hope for an early resolution of the situation”

The two leaders also discussed North Korea and the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula, the spokesman said, and Xi “asked for support” for a joint China-russia draft UN resolution which proposed easing sanctions against the nuclear-armed state

Otaka said Tokyo felt it was too soon to consider lifting sanctions