PHOTO COURTESY – NHK WORLD
WEB DESK / AMN / TOKYO
China, Japan and South Korea Wednesday agreed to work together to get North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons. At the trilateral summit among Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang in Tokyo regional free trade agreements were also discussed. The talks come at a crucial time ahead of the planned meeting between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
for the Korean peninsula, amid a hectic activities of diplomacy.
In his opening remarks, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, lauded the efforts of China and South Korea to get North Korea to the negotiating table.
“Using this momentum, we should carry on our work to push for the full, verifiable and irreversible abolishment of North Korea’s weapons of mass destruction and every type of ballistic missile,” Abe said.
Abe also said his country would normalise ties with North Korea if the nuclear and missile issues, along with that of the abduction of Japanese citizens, are solved comprehensively.
North Korea has admitted to kidnapping 13 Japanese citizens decades ago to train spies. Five have returned to Japan.
A Japanese official also aid the leaders had agreed to work towards a free trade pact among themselves and the proposed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership with Southeast Asian nations.
The first summit between the three countries in almost three years also cams after Kim made an unexpected visit to China’s northern port city of Dalian for talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
And they took place on the day US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo flew to Pyongyang on an unannounced visit to prepare for those looming US-North Korea talks.