Japan, China, S. Korea to hold 1st summit in over 3 yrs

SEOUL/TOKYO, Oct. 28 Kyodo - Leaders of Japan, China and South Korea will meet Sunday in Seoul in what will be the first trilateral summit in three and a half years, the South Korean government said Wednesday. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and South Korean President Park Geun Hye will hold their first one-on-one meeting Monday, and Abe plans to have separate talks Sunday with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, the Japanese government said. Speaking to reporters in Tokyo on Wednesday evening, Abe said he would like to promote cooperation with the two neighbors in areas such as the economy, the environment and culture. "Naturally, as we are neighboring countries we do have difficult issues. Including such issues, I would like to have a frank exchange of views in various areas such as the economy, security, the environment and people-to-people exchange," he said. Officials in Seoul and Tokyo said the three leaders are expected to discuss economic cooperation including a free trade agreement involving the three major Asian economies and measures to curb North Korea's missile and nuclear weapons developments. Asked about the planned meeting with Park, Abe said he would like to have candid talks on a dispute over Korean "comfort women" who worked in Japanese wartime military brothels. "And I would like to talk frankly as to what kind of relationship (the two countries) should build as we look into the future," he said. "Of course there are difficult issues, but I believe there are many other issues we should discuss and there are many perceptions we can share." Since taking office in February 2013, Park has rebuffed Abe's call for talks, saying Japan must first take steps to address the comfort women issue. Japan maintains that the issue was settled under the 1965 bilateral treaty that normalized diplomatic ties. The three-way summit has been suspended since May 2012, mainly because Japan's political ties with both China and South Korea chilled over disagreements over territory and the perception of wartime history. "The (trilateral) summit is expected to restore to a normal state the cooperation among the three countries which will result in a more active implementation of cooperative projects in various fields among the three countries," South Korea's presidential office said in a statement issued Wednesday. In the last session in Beijing, the three countries agreed to launch negotiations on a trilateral FTA. Speaking at a news conference in Tokyo on Wednesday, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said, "It means a lot that the three countries having a major influence on the peace and stability of the region and the world will meet and discuss various issues." ==Kyodo