Minister of Foreign Affairs Cho Tae-yul (right), Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Takeshi Iwaya (middle) and Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi on March 22 shake hands at a joint news conference following their trilateral talks at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tokyo. (Yonhap News)

By Jeon Misun 

The foreign ministers of Korea, China and Japan on March 22 held trilateral talks for the first time in 16 months, reaffirming that peace on the Korean Peninsula is in the common interest of the three countries as well as agreeing to expand cooperation.

Major media outlets such as Yonhap News of Korea said that in Tokyo, the three sides held their 11th three-way summit. They proposed as joint tasks for resolution sustainable development, public health and aging, economy and trade, science and technology, and digital transformation.

They also agreed to promote exchange projects based on the agreement in their trilateral summit in May last year and expand youth exchanges including the program Year of Cultural Exchange between Korea, Japan and China. They also pledged to continue cooperation at major diplomatic events hosted by each country this year and next year like the APEC Summit.

Seoul agreed with Beijing to boost cooperation by restoring cultural exchanges, while discussing with Tokyo joint responses following the launch of the second Trump administration in the U.S.

Through this meeting, the three East Asian countries are considered to have laid the foundation for continued cooperation in their region and coordinate the hosting of future summits.

msjeon22@korea.kr