SEOUL: South Korea, China, and Japan are in the final stages of planning a trilateral summit, scheduled for May 26-27 in Seoul, as confirmed by South Korea's foreign ministry on Saturday.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the summit which aims to foster regional cooperation and dialogue, will see the participation of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Chinese Premier Li Qiang, meeting with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol. The last such summit was held in Chengdu in December 2019 but was subsequently disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic and diplomatic tensions between Seoul and Tokyo regarding wartime labor compensation. Recent improvements in Seoul-Tokyo relations have paved the way for the resumption of the summit, following South Korea's decision last March to address compensation for Korean forced labor victims independently.