Japan, China and South Korea have decided to release a joint declaration at their summit meeting scheduled for Wednesday in Tokyo. They are considering demanding in the declaration the complete, verifiable and irreversible dismantlement of North Korea's nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles, sources said.
The three nations will cooperate to make Pyongyang, which has expressed its intention to denuclearize, take concrete actions.
At the latest inter-Korean summit meeting, South Korean President Moon Jae In and North Korea's Kim Jong Un, chairman of the Workers' Party of Korea, agreed to aim for the realization of a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula through complete denuclearization.
The three nations are considering stipulating in the declaration that they "welcome" the agreement reached by the leaders of two Koreas, as well as mentioning that they hope progress will be made at a summit meeting between the United States and North Korea scheduled by early June.
Regarding economic sanctions against North Korea, the nations of Japan and South Korea insist on maintaining maximum pressure on Pyongyang until complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization is realized, while China insists pressure be eased in stages in accordance with progress in denuclearizing, resulting in a gap between the two sides. The three nations are continuing to coordinate on the expressions to be used in the declaration.
They also plan to stipulate in the declaration cooperation among Japan, China and South Korea in a wide range of fields, including cooperation toward the conclusion of a free trade agreement among the three countries, strengthening the economic and trade relationship, and sports exchanges.
They are also preparing a joint statement for some fields apart from the joint declaration.
It will be the first summit meeting between Japan, China and South Korea in 2-1/2 years, since one held in Seoul in November 2015. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and Moon will visit Japan for the first time since their inaugurations. Summit meetings between Japan and China, Japan and South Korea, and China and South Korea are also scheduled to take place.
Li will be making an official visit to Japan and will meet with the Emperor.
Cooperation necessary
By Keita Ikeda
Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer
AMMAN -- Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Tuesday that a trilateral summit meeting between Japan, China and South Korea will be held in Tokyo on May 9.
The official announcement was made at a press conference in Amman.
Abe stressed the importance of cooperation with each country to make North Korea take concrete steps toward the "complete, verifiable and irreversible" dismantlement of nuclear weapons and missiles.
Abe said, "In the summit meeting among Japan, China and South Korea, I want to thoroughly discuss how to make North Korea take the right path, how to solve the abduction, nuclear and missile issues in a comprehensive manner, and how to craft a bright future."
Regarding efforts to realize a summit meeting between Japan and North Korea, Abe said, "Based on the Japan-North Korea Pyongyang Declaration of 2002, [Japan] aims to comprehensively solve the abduction, nuclear and missile issues, and settle the unfortunate past to normalize diplomatic relations."
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