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South Korean President Park Geun-hye shakes hands with President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Wednesday. Photo: AFP

China and South Korea agree three-way summit with Japan could resume as early as October

China and South Korea agreed on Wednesday to resume a trilateral summit in Japan as early as late October, following a three-year suspension.

President Xi Jinping  and his South Korean counterpart Park Geun-hye reached the agreement when they met for talks in Beijing ahead of the military parade commemorating the 70th anniversary of the end of the second world war.

The foreign ministers of China, Japan and South Korea agreed in March to hold the summit as early as possible. The summit has been suspended since Japan announced it was nationalising the Diaoyu Islands in 2012. Xi, Park and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe have never held a summit together.

In the talks with Park, Xi called for a resumption of multilateral nuclear talks with North Korea.%

North and South Korea averted a full-on military confrontation last week and reached an agreement to improve ties following a rare exchange of artillery fire over their border.

“China has all along upheld the aim of a denuclearised Korean peninsula, the maintaining of the peninsula’s peace and stability and resolving issues via dialogue and consultations,” Xi said on his foreign ministry’s website.%

Numerous efforts to restart the talks have failed.

Park told Xi she appreciated China’s help in defusing the tension with North Korea that had pushed the neighbours to the brink of conflict.

China is now South Korea’s biggest trading partner. South Korea is one of the few developed countries that runs a surplus with China.

Additional reporting by Staff Reporter

 

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