South Korean Foreign Minister Candidate: ``Efforts will be made to hold a Japan-China-South Korea Summit in the first half of the year''... ``China-South Korea relations will focus on increasing trust''

Cho Tae-yeol, South Korea's candidate for foreign minister, said, ``We will make efforts to hold a trilateral summit between South Korea, China, and Japan in the first half of this year.'' Regarding China-South Korea relations, he said, ``In effect, trust has been strengthened.
He emphasized the principle of "building a foundation for further improvement." On the 8th, at a personnel hearing held by the National Assembly's Foreign Affairs Unification Committee, Foreign Minister Cho expressed his opinion that ``it will not be easy to hold the China-Japan-South Korea summit in the first half.''
In response to a question, he said, ``Since there was an agreement at the foreign ministers' meeting among the three countries to hold the meeting as soon as possible, I would keep it as one of my top priorities if I were to take office. I can
We aim to hold the event as soon as possible." At the three foreign ministers' meeting held in Busan, South Korea in November last year, the three countries reaffirmed their commitment to ``hold a summit at the earliest mutually advantageous time.''
ing. Foreign Minister Cho took a cautious stance regarding Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to South Korea and the China-South Korea summit. Foreign minister candidate Cho said, ``It's not appropriate for me to say anything, and I don't want to make any prejudgments.''
``Based on the current situation, I think it's highly likely that the Korea-China-Japan summit meeting, which is being discussed in detail, will come first,'' he said.
Regarding foreign policy toward China, Foreign Minister Cho said, ``We have mutual respect and mutual respect with China.''
"We will build a healthy and mature relationship based on blessings and common interests," adding, "We will steadily advance substantive cooperative projects for the future, focusing on increasing trust rather than the speed and scale of relationship development." "and
The principle was clarified.