TOKYO: The Japanese government is arranging with China and South Korea a trilateral meeting of foreign ministers, which is planned to be held in Japan in late March, a government source has said.

Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya, his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi – a member of the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party – and South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul are expected to discuss people-to-people exchanges, responses to climate change, economic cooperation and North Korea’s nuclear and missile development.

The foreign ministers of the three countries will meet for the first time since November 2023, when they gathered in Busan.

The meeting will serve as a preliminary step toward a summit between the three countries to be held in Japan later this year.