South Korea opened a rare meeting with diplomats from Japan and China on Tuesday, the Foreign Ministry said.
The tripartite dialogue is seen as an attempt to allay China’s fears about the United States’ growing security ties with Japan and South Korea.
In view of the growing nuclear threat from North Korea, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has intensified contacts with Washington.
At the same time, it has sought to put historical disputes with Japan behind it, including close to Washington.
The three countries angered North Korea by holding joint military exercises and a summit at Camp David in the United States in August.
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The meeting on Tuesday will discuss possible cooperation between Seoul, Tokyo and Beijing and examine the possibility of resuming the leaders’ summit, the ministry said.
The last summit of this kind took place in 2019.
Due to diplomatic and historical disputes, particularly over Japanese colonial rule over the Korean peninsula from 1910 to 1945, no further meeting took place.
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China, South Korea’s largest trading partner, is also an ally and economic benefactor of North Korea.
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