Japan’s new nuclear envoy to visit S. Korea

As for the summit meeting, Hua said China hopes the first meeting in three years will determine the direction of China-Japan-ROK cooperation.

The article praised Mao and other Chinese notables who took part in the Korean War, as well as several North Koreans, as heroes that defeated the imperialist allies led by the United States.

Relations between Pyongyang and one of its few remaining supporters has been strained after the country detonated its third nuclear device in early 2013, despite warnings issued by China.

South Korean President Park Geun Hye will host Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang at a meeting in Seoul that would probably be held Sunday.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying, speaking at a daily news briefing, did not provide an exact date, but Japanese media have said it would be on November 1 in Seoul.

South Korea said Monday it had offered Japan a long-awaited leadership summit that would mark a major conciliatory step towards improving relations after an extended period of diplomatic rancor and mistrust.

According to China’s Ministry of Commerce data, the combined GDP of the three nations exceeds $16 trillion in total, accounting for more than 20 per cent of the world.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry called on all sides to “properly handle history issue and other sensitive issues on the basis of the spirit of “face up to history, look to the future” to boost trilateral cooperation”. “We have full confidence in the cooperation with Japan and Korea and East Asia at large”. But Abe has not had a one-on-one summit with Park since taking office in December 2012.

An official at the presidential office told reporters on Monday that Seoul held consultations with Tokyo on holding the bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the three-way summit.

China is South Korea’s largest trading partner.