China, Japan, South Korea 'Completely Restore' Cooperation

from Press TV: The leaders of China, Japan and South Korea say their trilateral cooperation has been "completely restored" following their first meeting in more than three years.

"We shared the view that trilateral cooperation has been completely restored on the occasion of this summit," the leaders said in a joint statement issued after the Sunday meeting.

Chinese and Japanese premiers, Li Keqiang and Shinzo Abe, and South Korean President Park Geun-hye temporarily put aside historical enmities to discuss common security and trade issues during a 90-minute summit in the South Korean capital, Seoul.

The Asian trio agreed to try to improve ties by "facing history squarely and advancing toward the future," according to the statement.

The tripartite negotiations had been held annually until 2012, but were canceled after the souring of Japan's relations with the other two countries in 2012, when Abe took office.

Many people in South Korea and China believe the Japanese premier is trying to whitewash Tokyo’s brutal behavior during its colonization of the Korean Peninsula and the invasion of China in the first half of the last century.

During the meeting, the three countries also vowed to push for greater economic relations and to try to restart stalled international talks on North Korea's nuclear weapons program.

Seoul, Beijing and Tokyo are all members of international negotiations on Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions. The US, Russia and North Korea are also members of the now-dormant talks.