Korea-China-Japan Summit Put on Hold

China’s Foreign Ministry announced yesterday that the seventh Korea-China-Japan summit, which was scheduled for the ninth Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) + 3 (Korea, China, and Japan) summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from December 12 to 14, has been postponed.

“The current atmosphere and conditions made it necessary to put off the seventh Korea-China-Japan summit until a suitable time,” the ministry said through its website.

The ministry also said that “China would keep its responsibility as the cooperation coordinator among the three nations,” and that “it hoped all three nations could hurdle the current unfavorable conditions through cooperation to achieve stability and development.”

China’s Government-run Xinhua News Agency briefly reported the ministry’s announcement without comments.

Yoo-Seong Hwang yshwang@donga.com