Beijing, S. Korea agree to summit with Japan by November: Yonhap

Chinese President Xi Jinping, right, shakes hands with South Korean President Park Geun-hye at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing yesterday

China and South Korea agreed to hold a three-way summit with Japan in Seoul in late October or early November, Yonhap News said.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and South Korean President Park Geun Hye reached the agreement when they met for talks in Beijing yesterday, Yonhap News reported, citing unidentified Park aides. Her office in Seoul couldn’t immediately confirm the report.
The foreign ministers of China, Japan and South Korea agreed in March to hold the summit “at the earliest convenient time.” Park, Xi and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe have never met together.
Park and Xi in recent months have signaled a willingness to put behind acrimony over Japan’s wartime past to permit the first three-way summit in three years. Park said last month that it was time for relations with Japan to move forward “based on the right historical recognition” after Abe said Japan inflicted “immeasurable damage and suffering” across Asia, in his statement marking the 70th anniversary of Japan’s surrender in World War II.
A three-way summit may ease tensions related to territorial disputes and invigorate talks on a free-trade deal between the countries, which account for a fifth of the world economy. The three are also members of six-nation talks aimed at dismantling North Korea’s nuclear arms programs. Sam Kim, Bloomberg