Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Monday he had spoken with South Korean President Park Geun Hye in Singapore and requested that South Korea arrange a trilateral summit with China at an early date.
Addressing the House of Representatives Budget Committee, Abe said that in his brief conversation with Park during a trip to attend the state funeral of former Singapore Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, he praised her leadership in convening a meeting in Seoul on March 21 of the foreign ministers of Japan, China and South Korea, according to Japan's (Kyodo) News Agency.
Abe said he asked that South Korea, which currently holds the rotating chair of the trilateral framework, arrange a summit, saying he "expects the Japan-China-South Korea (foreign ministerial) meeting to be elevated to a leaders' level."