President Moon Jae-in became the first sitting South Korean leader to visit Japan in over half a decade today.
Meeting with his counterpart in the host country and the Chinese premier, it was an extra-busy day for the liberal leader, who got a lot done during the sit-downs.
Hwang Hojun in Tokyo starts us off with the long overdue three way meeting. Diplomacy was the name of the game.
Resuming the three-way talks for the first time since 2015,... President Moon, Japanese Prime Minister Abe, and Chinese Premier Li said they throughly discussed how their countries can work together to deal with the North Korea issue while seeking the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and the establishment of lasting peace in the region.
They welcomed the outcome of the recent inter-Korean summit and even adopted a special statement welcoming the Panmunjom Declaration.
In that statement, they also expressed hope for the success of the upcoming Pyongyang-Washington summit… and pledged joint efforts for peace and stability in Northeast Asia.
Of course, the focal point of each leader reflected a slightly different approach.
President Moon voiced the importance of holding the trilateral summit on a regular basis.

"I wish and I also promise that the three countries will continue their close communication and cooperation on the process of establishing lasting peace in the region."

The Japanese prime minister stressed that the international sanctions on North Korea need to be adhered to... to get the regime to take concrete action… such as resolving the decades-long issue of its abductions of Japanese citizens.

"It is the three countries' common stance to completely fulfill the UN Security Council's resolutions on North Korea issues."

China wanted to make sure that it would still be able to exert influence on North Korea-related affairs.

"China hopes for the restoration of dialogue and for a political resolution of the Korean Peninsula issue by making the most of this opportunity. To this end, China will continue to play a constructive role."

Economic cooperation between the three countries was also mentioned.
The leaders noted that their combined GDP accounts for around 20 percent of the global economy and agreed that together they can accomplish anything.
They also attended a business summit, encouraging business leaders from all three countries to do more together.
President Moon stressed the need to jointly tackle trade protectionism.
And he called for joint efforts to conclude negotiations on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, or RCEP,... a regional free-trade pact involving South Korea, Japan and China as well as ASEAN nations.

The recent inter-Korean summit and the Panmunjom Declaration were apparently more than sufficient reasons to end the trilateral talks' 2-and-a-half year hiatus.
And now with the emergence of North Korea on the global stage,… three-way cooperation between Seoul, Tokyo, and Beijing has