S. Korea, U.S., Japan agree to hold three-way summit in Hague: report

TOKYO, March 21 (Yonhap) -- South Korea, the United States and Japan have agreed to hold a three-way meeting of their leaders when they gather in The Hague for the Nuclear Security Summit next week, a Japanese newspaper reported Friday. The envisioned summit, if realized, would mark the first formal talks between South Korean President Park Geun-hye and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Park has shunned a summit with the Japanese leader amid badly frayed relations between the two countries. The three countries are discussing jointly announcing the meeting, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported. Earlier this week, South Korean officials held a National Security Council meeting to discuss the issue and reached a conclusion that the three countries should use the Nuclear Security Summit to strengthen cooperation on the North Korean nuclear issue, the paper said. Park was briefed on the conclusion and agreed to hold the three-way summit, it said. Working-level discussions on the agenda and other details have already been under way between the three countries, and the North Korean nuclear issue is expected to be the main topic, the report said. It said the issue of Japan's sexual enslavement of Korean women during World War II is not expected to be a topic. Prospects for a meeting between Park and Abe have risen after Park reacted positively to Abe's promise earlier this month to honor Japan's two previous apologies for the colonial rule -- known as the "Kono statement" and the "Murayama statement," issued in 1993 and 1995, respectively. Park welcomed Abe's promise, saying she hopes it will lead to better relations between the two sides. Reports have since speculated the two leaders could meet either one-on-one or in a three-way summit with Obama on the sidelines of the Hague nuclear conference. (END)