South Korea, China, Japan chart course on trilateral summit

"The foreign ministers of South Korea, China and Japan met in the South Korean port city of Busan on Sunday and agreed the three countries should hold a leaders' summit at the earliest, mutually convenient time," South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin told reporters. The COVID-19 pandemic, along strained bilateral relations between Japan and South Korea over historical disputes, have been stumbling blocks. "Korea, Japan and China have the potential for massive cooperation. Our three countries are neighbors that can't be separated from one another," Park said at the start of the meetings Sunday. The South Korean foreign minister said talks with Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa focused on containing the threat from North Korea. Tensions over South Korea's demand that Japan financially compensate South Koreans forced into sexual slavery by Japanese troops during World War II is a persistent sore spot in relations between the two countries. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said he supported reviving three-way cooperation with South Korea and Japan, both of which are Washington's main strategic partners in East Asia as China is locked in an economic and strategic rivalry with the US. The Chinese Foreign Ministry said Wang warned Park during talks not to "Politicize" economic and technology issues, as tensions continue with the US over semiconductors and other trade disputes. Wang said China and Japan should reaffirm that they "Are cooperative partners rather than threats to each other, and they should be committed to peaceful development."