United plea after NK missile launch
Print Edition
CHINA, Japan and South Korea have agreed to urge North Korea to refrain from provocation and follow UN Security Council resolutions, after its latest missile launch toward Japan early yesterday.
Foreign ministers from the three Asian neighbors also sought to soothe their often-testy relations, and have reached an understanding on a trilateral summit meeting in Japan this year, a Japanese official said.
“We have confirmed that we will urge North Korea to exercise self-restraint regarding its provocative action, and to observe the UN Security Council’s resolutions,” Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida told a news conference after hosting the meeting with his Chinese and South Korean counterparts.
A North Korean submarine fired a ballistic missile that flew about 500 kilometers toward Japan, a show of improving technological capability for the country that has conducted a nuclear test and a series of missile launches this year in defiance of UN sanctions.
In the face of the North Korean threat, Kishida said after his meeting with China’s Wang Yi and South Korea’s Yun Byung-se, that cooperation among Japan, China and South Korea was more important than ever.
Yun promised South Korea’s support to realize a trilateral summit by the end of the year, as well as to cooperate economically and to achieve a successful G20 summit next month in China.
Wang said China opposed North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs and any “words or actions” that cause tension on the Korean Peninsula, China’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
China will continue to push for the peninsula’s denuclearization, seek a resolution through talks and uphold regional peace and stability, Wang added.
The three ministers share the understanding that Japan will host a trilateral summit this year, though dates have yet to be worked out, a Japanese foreign ministry official told reporters.
Relations between the three Asian economies are often difficult with the legacy of Japan’s wartime aggression affecting ties between it and China and South Korea, territorial disputes hurting links between Japan and China, and Japan and South Korea.
The meeting marked the first visit to Japan by a Chinese foreign minister since the Japanese government “took over” tiny islands at the center of a dispute with China “from private Japanese owners” in September 2012.
“Trilateral cooperation is a very important part of East Asian cooperation,” the Chinese foreign minister told his counterparts as the meeting began.
“There are many problems existing between the three countries, but China, Japan and South Korea are the three biggest economy entities in Asia. It’s our responsibility to promote economic development, lead regional cooperation and maintain regional peace and stability,” Wang said.
Xinhua news agency said Wang’s willingness to go to Tokyo showed “China’s sufficient sincerity to cooperate with Japan and South Korea.”
At the same time, it warned Japan and South Korea to “abandon the Cold War mentality and view the peaceful rise of China as vigor to regional development,” while avoiding “being the tools for some countries outside the region to undermine regional stability.”
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