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Kim Tae-hyo, the first deputy director of the National Security Office, gives a briefing at the presidential office on May 23, 2024. (Yonhap)

South Korea is slated to host a trilateral summit with China and Japan in Seoul on Sunday and Monday. This will be the first time the leaders of the three countries have met in four years. 

During a briefing at the Yongsan presidential office on Thursday, Kim Tae-hyo, the first deputy director of the National Security Office, revealed that the ninth trilateral summit between South Korea, China and Japan will take place in Seoul from May 26 to 27. 

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, and Chinese Premier Li Qiang will participate. This summit is scheduled to take place nearly four and a half years after the last trilateral summit, which was held in Chengdu, China, in December 2019. 

“On the first day of the summit, Premier Li will meet the president at the presidential office, followed promptly by a South Korea-Japan meeting with Prime Minister Kishida,” Kim explained. A trilateral meeting will be held on Monday morning. 

Kim revealed that six areas of cooperation have been presented to Japan and China, which involve an increase in people-to-people exchanges, cooperation to combat climate change so as to promote sustainable development, cooperation on public health and policies to counter aging populations, cooperation on digital transformation of science and technology, and cooperation on disaster and safety. 

“We will discuss cooperation in these areas in depth at the summit, and the results will be included in a joint declaration of the three countries,” Kim said. 

By Lee Seung-jun, staff reporter 

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]