Park Geun-hye sees boosting cooperation among S. Korea, China and Japan necessary, important

SEOUL, March 21-- As being economically interdependent, it is both necessary and important for South Korea, China and Japan to boost cooperation among them, South Korean President Park Geun-hye said here Saturday.

Park made the remarks while meeting with visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and visiting Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida at the presidential office Chong Wa Dae. South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se also attended the meeting.

Park said this year is of historical importance for the three countries as it marks the 70th anniversary of the end of the World War II.

On the occasion, facing history squarely and advancing toward the future is more important than ever before, Park said.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said China and South Korea have witnessed the speedy development of bilateral ties and bilateral cooperation in all fields have scored great achievements.

China, South Korea and Japan are neighbors and there is great potential and vast space for the three-way cooperation.

But in recent years, the development of ties between China and Japan and that between South Korea and Japan have been severely troubled which has affected the three-way cooperation, Wang said.

The Chinese foreign minister said the holding of the foreign ministers' meeting of the three countries did not come easily, hoping that the meeting will serve as a new beginning of the three- way cooperation.

Wang also hoped the historical issue should be handled properly and bilateral ties be improved in the spirit of facing history squarely and advancing toward the future so as to lay a solid foundation for the three-way cooperation.

Also on Saturday, Wang met with his South Korean counterpart Yun Byung-se and exchanged views on issues of common concerns.

Wang said China and South Korea have scored great achievements in economic cooperation and people-to-people exchange, initialed the free trade agreement and established the direct RMB-KRW trading mechanism, demonstrating the prosperous future of the development of bilateral relations.

Wang said China is willing to see South Korea to become one of the founding members of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank ( AIIB) as it is China's close neighbor and important trade partner.

For his part, Yun said his country is willing to strengthen high-level exchanges, push forward cooperation in the fields of economy and trade and people-to-people exchange, further deepen mutual understanding and mutual trust between the two sides so as to establish the strategic partnership in a real sense.

Yun added that South Korea spoke highly of China's progress in building AIIB and will make a final decision after full consideration.