S. Korea, Japan, China pledge cooperation at trilateral summit

May 28, 2024, 09:30 am

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President Yoon Suk-yeol, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida (left), and Chinese Premier Li Qiang take a commemorative photograph ahead of the trilateral summit at the presidential office in Seoul on May 27, 2024. The leaders of the three countries issued a joint declaration covering institutionalizing the trilateral cooperation and maintaining peace and prosperity.

AsiaToday reporter Hong Sun-mi

Leaders of South Korea, Japan and China agreed to hold the trilateral summit and ministerial meetings on a regular meeting during their summit in Seoul on Monday. They also agreed to strengthen economic and commercial cooperation by resuming talks on a three-way free trade agreement (FTA) and promote cooperation in supply chain resilience.

Regarding the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, they only reaffirmed the fundamental level of agreement that they would continue to make positive efforts for the political settlement of the Korean Peninsula issue. The joint statement did not include the goal of denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula or North Korea.

President Yoon Suk-yeol, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Chinese Premier Li Qiang reached the agreement during the ninth trilateral summit at the presidential office in Seoul.

Some of the main agreements from the declaration include institutionalizing trilateral cooperation, supporting trilateral cooperation projects for the people of the three nations, and maintaining regional and international peace and prosperity.

“We will strive to institutionalize the trilateral cooperation by holding the trilateral summit and ministerial meetings on a regular basis, and continue to promote the capacity-building of the trilateral cooperation secretariat (TCS),” President Yoon said.

“We reaffirmed that maintaining peace, stability and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia serves our common interest and is our common responsibility,” the three leaders said. They reiterated their positions on regional peace and stability, denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, and abduction issues. While China emphasized “peace and stability within the region,” South Korea stressed “denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” and Japan “abduction issues.”

Meanwhile, North Korea said Monday that discussion at the trilateral summit between Seoul, Tokyo and Beijing denuclearization the Korean Peninsula was a “grave political provocation” and violated its constitutional status as a nuclear weapon state.

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