JABAR EKSPRES – South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on Tuesday (12/9) pledged to actively seek a trilateral summit with Japan and China, which has not been held since 2019 due to historical disputes between Seoul and Tokyo, as well as the COVID-19 pandemic.
President Yoon made his commitment during a cabinet meeting held a day after returning from a six-day visit to Indonesia and India.
In Indonesia and India, he attended multilateral summits involving the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the Group of 20 major economies (G20), respectively.
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He also met with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Chinese Prime Minister Li Qiang on the sidelines of the events.
“During this visit, PM Li Qiang and PM Kishida expressed their support for the resumption of the South Korea-China-Japan summit,” Yoon said during the meeting at the presidential office.
“As the chair country, South Korea will actively push for the organization of the South Korea-China-Japan summit,” he said.
In all previously held meetings, China was represented by its prime minister, not its president.
President Yoon attended six multilateral meetings and 20 bilateral meetings during his visit to Jakarta and New Delhi, including summits with President Joko Widodo and Indian PM Narendra Modi.
Recalling his agreement with Modi to boost cooperation in the space field, Yoon urged the National Assembly to quickly deploy the bill on the establishment of the Korea AeroSpace Administration, a new agency proposed by his administration.
He also called for the immediate passage of a series of bills aimed at improving teachers’ rights, noting the importance of addressing a number of recent cases of teacher deaths due to suicides of unruly students and malicious complaints from parents.
“Recently, we have witnessed a series of tragic news from the world of education. Normalization of the education field is an urgent matter,” President Yoon said.
