Seoul, Tokyo, Beijing welcome Panmunjom Declaration, pledge cooperation

2018-05-09 0

As you said, President Moon is in Tokyo today for the trilateral summit with Japan and China.
He is the first sitting President to visit Japan in six years... and it's the first time the trilateral summit has been held in more than two and a half years.
A lot is being discussed and done.
We now connect to our Blue House correspondent Hwang Hojun in Tokyo on the phone.
Hojun, sounds like it's been quite a day over there on the other side of the East Sea.

Devin, it was the game of diplomacy.
Resuming the three-way talks for the first time since 2015,... President Moon, Japanese Prime Minister Abe, and Chinese Premier Li said they throughly discussed how the three countries can cooperate to deal with the North Korea issue while seeking the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and the establishment of lasting peace in the region.
They welcomed the outcome of the recent inter-Korean summit and even adopted a special statement welcoming the Panmunjom Declaration.
In that statement, they also expressed hope for the success of the upcoming Pyongyang-Washington summit,… and pledged joint efforts so the success of the inter-Korean summit will lead to peace and stability in Northeast Asia.
Of course, the focal point of each leader reflected a slightly different approach.
Take a listen.

"I wish and I also promise that the three countries will continue their close communication and cooperation on the process of establishing lasting peace in the region."

"It is the three countries' common stance to completely fulfill the UN Security Council's resolutions on North Korea issues."

"China hopes for the restoration of dialogue and for a political resolution of the Korean Peninsula issue by successfully taking advantage of this opportunity. To this end, China will continue to play a constructive role."

So, as you can see,... President Moon voiced the importance of holding the trilateral summit on a regular basis.
Japan stressed that the three countries need to strongly urge North Korea to take concrete action,… such as resolving the decades-long issue of North Korean abductions of Japanese citizens.
China wanted to make sure that it would still be able to exert influence on North Korean affairs.
Shortly afterwards, President Moon held a separate summit with Prime Minister Abe, which was then followed by a luncheon hosted by the Japanese leader.
He also held another one-on-one with Li Keqiang,... which we just heard ended a few moments ago.

All three countries had some things to discuss with one another in terms of historical issues. But it does seem like Pyongyang's engaging with other countries on the global stage is definitely changing diplomacy in Asia.

That's right. And that's why economic cooperation between the three countries was also mentioned today.
The leaders noted the combined GDP of the three countries accounts for around 20 percent of the global economy and agreed that together they can accomplish anything.
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