By Kim Ji-eun

Minister of Foreign Affairs Park Jin met with the Korea-Japan-China Trilateral Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM) leaders -- Deputy Minister for Political Affairs Chung Byung-won, Japanese Senior Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs Funakoshi Takehiro, and Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Nong Rong on Sept. 25.

Foreign Minister Park welcomed the visit to Korea by Senior Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs Funakoshi and Assistant Foreign Minister Nong and said that trilateral cooperation among Korea, Japan and China is important for peace, stability and prosperity in the Northeast Asian region and beyond, as the three countries account for 20% of the world’s population and 25% of the global GDP.

Foreign Minister Park asked the SOM leaders to work hard to produce tangible outcomes that can be felt by the people of the three countries, considering the high public interest in and expectations for the first SOM in nearly four years.

Park recalled that there has been a consensus among the three countries regarding the need to hold the Trilateral Summit. He added that as Chair of the 9th Trilateral Summit, Korea will make active efforts to hold the summit as soon as possible.

Foreign Minister Park emphasized the need to strengthen the capacity of the Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat (TCS), which buttresses the institutionalization of trilateral cooperation. In that light, he asked the SOM leaders to spare no effort in supporting the TCS so that it can continue contributing to the promotion of trilateral cooperation under the leadership of new Secretary-General Lee Hee-sup.

Senior Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs Funakoshi and Assistant Foreign Minister Nong expressed their gratitude to Foreign Minister Park for his welcome, adding that they looked forward to examining the progress and tasks of trilateral cooperation, and having fruitful discussions on the way forward at SOM.