Chinese Premier to Hold Rare Summit with South Korea and Japan

(Patria) - Leaders of China, Japan and South Korea will meet in Seoul today for the first trilateral talks in four years as they seek to revive trade and security dialogue hampered by global tensions, Reuters reported.

Chinese Premier Li Qiang, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will adopt a joint statement on six areas including economy and trade, science and technology, people-to-people exchanges, and health and aging population, Seoul officials said.

The summit comes a day after the leaders met separately for bilateral talks. In those meetings, Li and Yoon agreed on diplomatic and security dialogue and the resumption of free trade talks, while Kishida and the Chinese premier discussed Taiwan and agreed to hold a new round of high-level bilateral economic dialogue.

Yoon also asked China to play a constructive role with its partners on North Korea, which is expanding its nuclear weapons and missile arsenal in defiance of United Nations Security Council resolutions.

North Korea has notified Japan of its plan to launch a satellite rocket between May 27 and June 4, Japan's coast guard said on Monday.

Officials from the United States, Japan and South Korea held phone talks in response to the notification and called on North Korea to cancel the launch as it will use ballistic missile technology in contravention of UN resolutions, Japan's Foreign Ministry said.

South Korean and Japanese officials and diplomats have set a low bar for the summit, saying it is uncertain whether there will be major announcements, but that the gathering itself will help the three countries revive and strengthen their strained relations. The leaders will agree to resume talks on a free trade agreement when they meet, Nikkei reported on Monday.

China and South Korea and Japan, US allies, are trying to manage growing mistrust amid rivalry between Beijing and Washington and tensions over Taiwan.