Earlier in the day, the foreign ministers of the three Asian states held their first meeting in three years. At the talks held in the South Korea’s capital of Seoul the foreign policy chiefs agreed to restore their traditional trilateral summit at “the earliest” opportunity. They also declared opposition to the development of nuclear weaponry by North Korea.
The UN chief also expressed hope that the trilateral summit would be held soon, as was agreed by the ministers, and encouraged China, Japan and South Korea to promote prosperity and peace in the region.
The heads of the states and the foreign ministers of China, Japan and South Korea have been holding trilateral summits annually since 2008, but the meetings were suspended in 2012, amid the worsened dispute over the East China Sea islands.
