SEOUL, Nov. 1 -- China, Japan and South Korea are urged to continue their trilateral cooperation despite a separate rift in bilateral relations, the chief of an international group has said.

"We cannot say (the trilateral cooperation) has nothing to do with bilateral relations (among China, Japan and South Korea)," Hisashi Michigami, secretary-general of the Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat (TCS), told Xinhua in a recent interview.

Separately from the soured bilateral relations, there are great "needs" for cooperation among the three Northeast Asian countries, said the TCS chief, who worked as a career Japanese diplomat having spending years in China and South Korea.

The secretary-general said the trilateral consultations have been going on in various fields, both in the government and the private sectors, to meet the benefits of each other. "We have 21 ministerial level meetings in various fields - environment, disaster management, trade and so on," He said.

The TCS is an international organization, which was launched in September 2011 and headquartered in Seoul with an aim to promote peace and common prosperity among China, Japan and South Korea.

His comment came amid the frayed ties between Seoul and Tokyo over the trade dispute and the historical issues. But regardless of the soured bilateral relations, China, Japan and the South Korea have been seeking economic cooperation through the trilateral free trade agreement (FTA) and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).

During the trilateral summit in Tokyo last year, the leaders of the three countries agreed to make efforts to push for the trilateral FTA, while agreeing to speed up the RCEP negotiations with an aim to reach an agreement within this year, Michigami said.

The TCS chief noted that the trilateral FTA and RCEP can benefit the relevant parties through liberalization of goods and services across the border.

RCEP is a multilateral free trade deal involving the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and six other countries - China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and India.