S. Korea, China, Japan hold conference call on coronavirus response

The foreign ministries of South Korea, China and Japan held a working-level conference call on Tuesday to discuss cooperation in stemming the regional and global spread of the new coronavirus, officials said.

Kim Jung-han, director-general for Asian and Pacific affairs at Seoul's foreign ministry, joined the call with his Chinese and Japanese counterparts, Wu Jianghao and Shigeki Takizaki.

In the call, they agreed to explore ways to hold trilateral talks among the foreign ministers of their countries at an early date and continue close communication in the efforts to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

"South Korea, China and Japan shared the understanding that cooperation through various channels is crucial to stamp out the infectious disease and prevent its transmission among the countries," the foreign ministry said in a press release.

"Also, the officials exchanged views on the need to make efforts to ensure that the containment efforts would not impede trilateral or bilateral exchanges," it added.

In the three-way call, Seoul made the proposal for the countries to ease or remove entry restrictions for at least businesspeople or others with "compelling reasons" to travel to each other's territories.

"But I heard that we did not get any answer to that proposal yet," a senior foreign ministry official told reporters on condition of anonymity.

Touching on the format of the potential talks among the top diplomats of the three countries, the official said that they could hold a video or teleconference depending on the ministers' schedules.

"I think the three countries share an understanding on the need for the ministers' talks, though no decision has been made on specifics," he said. "I heard that the countries hope to hold the talks at the earliest possible date."

Diplomats of the three countries have recently been stepping up communication to share information about their containment efforts and practices and beef up joint anti-virus efforts.

Last Friday, the foreign ministries and health authorities of South Korea and China held a videoconference on joint efforts to stop the virus outbreaks, including ensuring the stable supply of face masks and other quarantine items. (Yonhap)