Senior diplomats from Japan, China and South Korea have agreed to hold a trilateral summit as soon as possible. South Korea will chair the next summit. Its foreign ministry said the three nations aim to meet at the earliest convenient time. Such a summit has not been held since 2019. Japan's Senior Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs Funakoshi Takehiro, China's Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs Nong Rong and South Korea's Deputy Foreign Minister Chung Byung-won met in Seoul today. Local media say arrangements are being made for a meeting of foreign ministers in November in South Korea's Busan.

A senior South Korean official said the country proposed strengthening cooperation with Japan and China to pursue results in fields such as national security and the economy. However, the official said that Japan's release of treated and diluted water from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant was not on the agenda. 

The summit is expected to be held by the year-end.