Korea, China, Japan kick off trilateral foreign ministers' meeting

The top diplomats of South Korea, China and Japan began their trilateral meeting in Tokyo on Wednesday to discuss ways to expand cooperation and check pending issues of mutual concern.

The talks, which started earlier in the day, marked the first time that foreign ministers of the three countries got together following the last such event held in Seoul back in March of 2015.

Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se and his Japanese and Chinese counterparts, Fumio Kishida and Wang Yi, attended the gathering.

They are to hold a joint press conference after wrapping up the meeting.

High on the agenda will be making preparations for a summit between their leaders. The three neighbors resumed the trilateral summit talks last year after a three-year hiatus over territorial and historical disputes among the countries.

The foreign ministers' meeting comes amid diplomatic rows involving all three countries. China and Japan have been at odds over islands in the East China Sea, called Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China.

South Korean and Chinese ties have been frayed over Seoul's recent decision to deploy a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense battery on its soil. This drew strong objections from Beijing which worries that it can be targeted by the missile defense shield.

The three also met in the face of mounting nuclear and missile threats from North Korea, which is expected to be yet another major topic during the talk. Earlier, the North test-fired a submarine-launched ballistic missile in the East Sea in defiance of international sanctions.

Leaving for Tokyo on Tuesday, South Korea's Foreign Minister Yun told reporters that the trilateral meeting comes at a "very important" time considering that there are various challenges confronting not only the bilateral ties of the three countries but also other Asian countries. (Yonhap)