Leaders of Japan, China, SKorea hold talks focused on NKorea
T OKYO — The rapidly evolving situation on the Korean Peninsula and U.S. threats to free trade were likely agenda items as China, Japan and South Korea sat down Wednesday for their first trilateral summit in more than two years.
The meeting comes amid a flurry of developments on the Korean peninsula. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met Moon on April 27 and Chinese President Xi Jinping earlier this week. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo flew to Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, early Wednesday on an unannounced visit.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, in opening remarks, praised the efforts of Xi and South Korean President Moon Jae-in.
"Using this momentum, we should carry on our work to push for the full, verifiable and irreversible abolishment of North Korea's weapons of mass destruction and every type of ballistic missile," Abe said.
Abe and Moon are meeting with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, the No. 2 official after Xi.
Li said the three counties need a stable northeast Asia region for their development, adding that free trade is a good way to promote a global economic recovery.
"We are willing to work with Japan and South Korea to jointly maintain regional stability and push forward the development of the three countries," he said.
Wednesday's summit is the seventh since the three-way meetings started in 2008 but only the first since 2015. It follows Kim's surprise visit this week to China's northern port city of Dalian for talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Moon is expected to brief Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang about his April 27 summit with Kim.
The leaders of North and South Korea agreed to work toward reconciliation, but didn't achieve any breakthroughs in North Korea's denuclearization. Analysts say Japan is trying to showcase improved ties and cooperation with China and South Korea so its views will be represented in any negotiations with North Korea.
Japanese officials hope the trilateral summit will produce a joint statement seeking North Korea's complete, verifiable and irreversible abandonment of nuclear weapons, affirming China's and South Korea's support for the return of Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea decades ago, and promoting a three-way free trade agreement.
Abe told a parliamentary session Tuesday that he hoped to have an "in-depth discussion of North Korea problems" at the meeting to seek a comprehensive solution.
Differences remain over how to pursue North Korea's nuclear disarmament. Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Kong Xuanyou said Friday the summit would focus on three-way cooperation rather than the North Korea issue.
Abe will also hold talks separately with Moon and Li. Japanese officials said they plan to propose a free and peaceful East China Sea, but do not plan to raise contentious issues such as South Korean "comfort women" forced to provide sex to Japan's wartime military.
Moon is to leave Japan after half a day. After that, Abe will host a dinner and lunch for Li and join him on the northern island of Hokkaido on the final day of his four-day Japan visit.
Japanese Foreign Ministry officials said they want to improve Japan's strained relations with China, with the eventual goal of realizing a visit by Xi. Li is China's No. 2 official, after Xi.
While Japan, China and South Korea are closely linked economically, antiJapanese sentiment runs deep in China and South Korea because of territorial and historical disputes dating back to Japan's colonization of the Korean Peninsula and invasion of China in the first half of the 20th century.