Trilateral Meeting of the Leaders of Japan, the People's Republic of China, and the Republic of Korea (ROK)
(Summary)

A Trilateral Meeting of the leaders of Japan, the People's Republic of China, and the Republic of Korea, hosted by China, was held in Cambodia on November 4. The following are the main points of the meeting. This meeting has been held four times. Previously they had got together for breakfast meetings, but this time a regular meeting was held.

1. Issues concerning the Korean Peninsula

(1) At the beginning, Prime Minister Koizumi stated as follows:
Regarding the relations between Japan and North Korea, we resumed the Japan-North Korea normalization talks. We would like to change the bilateral relations between Japan and North Korea from hostile ones to cooperative ones in future. I visited Pyongyang on September 17 and signed the Japan-DPRK Pyongyang Declaration. The issues in this region cannot be resolved only by Japan and North Korea. These issues, including the nuclear and missile problems, are wide concerns of the international community and the constructive engagements by the international community would bring benefit to North Korea. I conveyed my belief to North Korea that North Korea should not isolate itself from the international community. For this purpose, the Pyongyang Declaration has to be sincerely observed. At the APEC summit meeting, the leaders issued the statement on North Korea as a collective opinion of the international community regarding this point. At the normalization talks, we took the abduction issues and the nuclear problems as the highest priority. The nuclear problems are grave concerns of the international community and Japan is calling upon North Korea to dismantle its nuclear program in a verifiable manner. We will continue to make steady efforts to resolve issues of concerns in the normalization talks. In accordance with an agreement among Japan, the U.S. and the ROK, it is important to peacefully resolve the issues. We expect China and the ROK to play constructive roles.

(2) In response, the ROK stated as follows:
Regarding the issues of North Korea, we agreed with North Korea to proceed to peaceful dialogues at the South-North Joint Declaration in June, 2000. Concrete dialogues with North Korea have been deepened. We appreciate the supports by the international community. North Korea's nuclear development is a grave problem affecting the stability of East Asia. We would like to strongly call on the resolution of this matter in a transparent manner. To this end, international cooperation is necessary and we support the APEC Leader's Statement on North Korea from this point of view.

(3) China stated as follows:
We support the Joint South-North Declaration on the Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. Implementation of the Agreed Framework is important. We support the peaceful reunification of the ROK and North Korea. We had not been informed anything about the North Korea's nuclear program. We hope that this problem would be resolved through peaceful consultations.

2. Japan-China-ROK Cooperation

The leaders of Japan, China, and the ROK agreed to promote the following cooperation:

(1) Japan-China-ROK cooperation will be promoted in the five areas of economics and trade, information and telecommunications, environmental protection, human resources development, and cultural cooperation.

(2) In the area of joint research on economic cooperation, the three countries will study the economic effects of a possible free trade area among Japan, China and ROK. (Regarding a free trade area among Japan, China and ROK, Prime Minister Koizumi stated that studies were necessary from a medium- and long-term viewpoint and that he would like to observe the progress of the research.)

(3) Implementation of a yellow dust monitoring project

(4) Studies by eminent persons in ASEAN + 3 for cooperation that puts the focus on "people." Regarding intellectual dialogue, the three sides agreed on building intellectual exchange and research center network.

(5) Further promotion of tourism and sports exchange

(6) Holding of a seminar for Japan-China-ROK media cooperation

(7) Support for the Japan-China-ROK Business Forum on November 20

Related Information (Japan-North Korea Relations)