Korea-Japan-China summit Monday could be ‘turning point’ to normalized ties in Northeast Asia

South Korea, Japan and China will hold a long-stalled trilateral summit in Seoul on Monday, a meeting expected to serve as a stepping stone towards normalization of relations between the three Northeast Asian neighbors.

Principal Deputy National Security Adviser Kim Tae-hyo speaks on a trilateral summit bringing together the leaders of Korea, Japan and China over Sunday and Monday during a briefing at the Yongsan presidential office in central Seoul Thursday. [NEWS1]

South Korea, Japan and China will hold a long-stalled trilateral summit in Seoul on Monday, a meeting expected to serve as a stepping stone towards normalization of relations between the three Northeast Asian neighbors.

President Yoon Suk Yeol will host the three-way meeting, the first of its kind in four years and five months, inviting Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Chinese Premier Li Qiang to the country for a two-day visit from Sunday, the presidential office announced Thursday. Korea is the current rotating chair.

"This summit will serve as a turning point for Korea, Japan and China to fully restore and normalize our trilateral cooperative system," Kim Tae-hyo, principal deputy national security adviser, said in a press briefing at the Yongsan presidential office.

"It will provide an opportunity to secure the momentum for future-oriented and practical cooperation that will enable the people of the three countries to feel tangible benefits."

The summit, the ninth of its kind, will address six areas of cooperation: economy and trade; sustainable development and climate response; health and an aging society; science and technology in the age of digital transformation; disaster and safety management; and people-to-people exchanges.

The leaders are expected to issue a joint declaration afterwards to demonstrate their intent to pursue such cooperation. This statement is expected to lead discussions in lower-level consultative bodies and future cooperative projects among the three countries.

On Sunday afternoon, Yoon will hold separate bilateral talks with Li and Kishida at the Yongsan presidential office.

Later that evening, Yoon is scheduled to host an official welcome dinner for the three countries' delegations, including 80 business figures.

Yoon, Li and Kishida will hold a summit Monday morning. Later that day, they will attend and speak at a business forum involving the three countries.

The trilateral summit between the Northeast Asian countries, first launched in December 2008, was last held in Chengdu in December 2019, when China was the chair. The meeting, however, went on hiatus due to the Covid-19 pandemic and strained relations between Seoul and Tokyo over historical and trade issues.

The gathering comes as Seoul and Tokyo have normalized bilateral relations and aligned more closely with Washington in the past two years amid intensifying Sino-U.S. competition and Pyongyang's increased nuclear and missile threats.

The strengthened trilateral security cooperation between South Korea, the United States and Japan was exemplified through the Camp David summit in August last year, juxtaposed to China, Russia and North Korea's stronger bonds in recent times.

The upcoming Seoul-Beijing-Tokyo summit is expected to provide an opportunity for the neighbors to seek cooperation in shared sectors, such as the economy, trade and health.

"Our government's ultimate goal for trilateral cooperation is to create an environment where the people of our three countries can trust each other, actively interact and work in healthy and safe environments," Kim said, stressing that promoting the economic development of all three countries lends way to improving such quality of life.

The Korea-China-Japan summit is also expected to be a venue to discuss ways to expand the scope of three-way cooperation to include tackling wider regional and global issues they can agree on.

This could include working together in the UN Security Council "to respond to complex global crises and contribute to peace and prosperity in the international community," Kim said.

It is unclear whether the leaders will discuss the matter of suspected arms transactions between North Korea and Russia, said a presidential official, noting that it will be difficult for Seoul, Tokyo and Beijing to come to an agreement on issues involving Pyongyang's denuclearization "in a short period of time."

In his bilateral talks with Li, Yoon is expected to discuss "regional and global issues, including the situation on the Korean Peninsula," according to Kim, as well as promoting strategic communication, expanding economic and trade cooperation, creating a favorable investment environment in China, expanding people-to-people and cultural exchanges, and discuss regional and global issues, including the situation on the Korean Peninsula.

This will be Li's first visit to Korea since taking office in March 2023. The Chinese premier traditionally attends the summit rather than the president.

Yoon's talks with Kishida will mark their first bilateral summit this year, after a series of meetings last year following the revival of bilateral shuttle diplomacy between the two countries' leaders in March 2023 as relations normalized.

He plans to exchange opinions with Kishida "on ways to promote substantive cooperation between the two countries," such as the situation on the Korean Peninsula, trilateral cooperation between Seoul, Washington and Tokyo, and regional and global cooperation, including in the Indo-Pacific region, Kim said.

Yoon continues a flurry of diplomatic events in Seoul this month, following Korea's general election in April.

Last week, Yoon held a bilateral summit with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet in Seoul. He also co-hosted a virtual leader's session of the AI Seoul Summit alongside British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Tuesday.

Next week, Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, president of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), will make a state visit to Seoul on Tuesday and Wednesday.

His two-day trip will mark the first state visit to the country by a UAE president.

The two leaders are expected to discuss ways to strengthen cooperation in various sectors, including economic investment, energy, the defense industry and advanced technologies.

In January last year, Yoon made a state visit to the UAE, becoming the first foreign leader to do so since President Mohamed was inaugurated in May 2022.

BY SARAH KIM [kim.sarah@joongang.co.kr]