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South Korea, Japan, China reaffirm peace on Korean Peninsula is 'shared interest'

Published: 22 Mar. 2025, 23:02

Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul, right, poses for a photo with Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya, center, and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on March 21 in Tokyo. [YONHAP]

South Korea, Japan and China reaffirmed Saturday that ensuring peace on the Korean Peninsula is in the common interests of the three countries and their shared responsibility, Seoul's top diplomat said.

Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul made the remarks following his three-way talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya in Tokyo, underscoring the importance of maintaining the momentum for their trilateral cooperation.

"We reaffirmed that maintaining peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula is a shared interest and responsibility of the three countries," Cho said in a joint press conference.

"It's timely and meaningful that today's three-way talks are taking place in the context that we maintain the momentum of trilateral cooperation, which was revitalized by last year's summit in Seoul after a 4 1/2 year hiatus," he said.

Saturday's talks came as the three Asian neighbors are seeking to maintain and advance the trilateral cooperation framework amid uncertainties in the economy and security, from the war in Ukraine to U.S. trade risks from tariff policies under the second Donald Trump administration.

Cho urged that North Korea should not be rewarded for its wrongdoings in Russia's war against Ukraine, amid the North's involvement in the conflict by deploying troops in support of Moscow.

"I emphasized during our talks that North Korea must not be rewarded for its wrong behavior in the course of bringing an end of the war in Ukraine," Cho said.

"It's important for South Korea, Japan and China to faithfully carry out U.N. Security Council (UNSC) sanctions against North Korea and make efforts to stop the North's provocations and bring about its complete denuclearization," he added.

Wang called for the three countries' role in ensuring regional stability through enhanced communication, trust and cooperation.

"We agreed to push forward with regional economic integration, including the resumption of free trade agreement negotiations," Wang said.

Iwaya said he and his counterparts agreed to speed up the process to hold the trilateral leaders' summit "at an earliest possible and appropriate time."

On North Korea, Iwaya said he expressed concerns over the North's nuclear and missile activities and its military ties with Moscow.

"North Korea's denuclearization is our shared goal and I told (the other ministers) that Japan is willing to closely communicate to fully implement the UNSC sanctions resolutions," he said.

Following the three-way talks, Cho joined Iwaya for separate bilateral talks.

Cho arrived in Japan Friday and met one-on-one with Wang on the same day.

The three Asian neighbors held their last foreign ministers' dialogue in South Korea's southern city of Busan in November 2023, attended by Wang and then Foreign Ministers Park Jin and Yoko Kamikawa.

The previous three-way summit took place in Seoul in May last year between President Yoon Suk Yeol, then Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Chinese Premier Li Qiang.

Yonhap