Seoul: South Korea, China, and Japan are nearing the completion of plans to conduct a trilateral meeting involving their top diplomats in March, as reported on Thursday. The gathering is anticipated to occur in Tokyo, with the most probable date being March 22, according to Japan's Asahi Shimbun daily, which cited multiple government sources.
According to Yonhap News Agency, Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul of South Korea and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi are scheduled for a three-day visit to Tokyo starting from March 21. They will meet with their Japanese counterpart, Takeshi Iwaya, for the discussions. This three-way meeting will follow nearly a year after the foreign ministers' gathering in South Korea's southern city of Busan in November 2023.
If the meeting takes place, Cho is expected to engage in separate bilateral discussions with both Wang and Iwaya. These high-level diplomatic talks typically precede the leaders' summit of the three nations, with Japan serving as the chair for this year's events. The specific date for the anticipated summit remains unannounced. Japanese media have indicated that Tokyo aimed to host the trilateral summit in the spring, but the timeline has become uncertain due to the political developments in Korea, particularly after the martial law attempt by the now impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol.