South Korea hosts Japanese, Chinese leaders for trilateral summit

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ISTANBUL (AA) – Leaders of South Korea, Japan and China Monday met for a trilateral summit in Seoul, for the first time since 2019, with calls for need to uphold “inclusivity” and enhance “mutual respect and trust.”

Barring Chinese Premier Li, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida urged North Korea to abandon its plans to launch military satellite.

Pyongyang notified Tokyo that it is scheduled to blast into space a military reconnaissance satellite before June 4.

“All launches using ballistic missile technology directly violate UN Security Council resolutions, and undermine regional and global peace and stability,” said Yoon, according to Seoul-based Yonhap News.

“If North Korea proceeds with the launch despite international warnings, I believe the international community must respond firmly," Yoon added.

Japanese Prime Minister Kishida also called on Pyongyang to not go ahead with its plans.

“North Korea has once again announced the launch of a satellite. If it proceeds, it will be a violation of UN Security Council resolutions. We strongly urge North Korea to cease this activity," said Kishida.

On Sunday, Yoon held separate bilateral meetings with Li and Kishida.

At the summit, Li stressed on "openness and inclusivity" to foster cooperation, besides calling for enhancing "mutual respect and trust" to promote "full resumption" of trilateral cooperation.

"We should resolve suspicions and misunderstandings through honest dialogue, uphold bilateral relations with a spirit of strategic autonomy, promote a multipolar world, and oppose bloc confrontation and factionalism," Li said.

The Seoul summit deliberated upon six specific areas, including economy and trade, sustainable development, health issues, science and technology, disaster and safety management, and people-to-people exchanges.

Kishida said Tokyo, Seoul and Beijing "must aim at a future in which all nations enjoy peace, prosperity, and human dignity under a free and open international order based on the rule of law."

"We will advance our efforts to develop our trilateral cooperation in a manner that responds to the issues of the day," the Japanese prime minister said.

A joint statement released after the summit reaffirmed that maintaining peace, stability and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula and in northeast Asia "serves our common interest and is our common responsibility."