Will the Japan-China-South Korea summit finally be held? If it takes place in May, it will be the first time in about four and a half years.

It has been learned that arrangements are underway to hold a Japan-China-South Korea summit in May of this year. If it is realized, it will be the first such meeting in about four and a half years since December 2019.
The first Japan-China-South Korea summit was held in 1999 at the suggestion of then Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi, in conjunction with an international conference in the Philippines.
Since 2008, the three countries have taken turns hosting the meeting. Up until now, the meetings have discussed how to respond to North Korea's nuclear and missile development, as well as economic cooperation.
The summit was held in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China in December 2019, and it was agreed that the two countries would work closely together to respond to North Korea.
However, the meeting was postponed the following year due to the worsening of Japan-Korea relations and the spread of the COVID-19 virus.
It was not held in 2019, 2022, or even last year. In March of last year, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said at a joint press conference with South Korean President Yoon Seok-yeol, who visited Japan, "We will hold a high-level summit."
"We agreed on the importance of restarting the Korea-China process as soon as possible," he said, expressing his willingness to resume the Japan-China-ROK summit.
At the meeting, South Korea's then Foreign Minister Park Jin, who chaired the summit, said he hoped to make efforts to hold a three-way summit as soon as possible.
However, the three foreign ministers agreed to speed up the process to hold the summit "as soon as possible at an appropriate time."
China initially tried to approach Japan and South Korea in response to the intensifying conflict with the United States, but as a mood of dialogue with the United States spread, including the face-to-face US-China summit held in November last year, China began to lose interest in talks with Japan and South Korea.
Despite this, South Korea, which is the chair country, tried to hold the meeting last year or in April this year, but negotiations proved difficult and it has not come to fruition to this day.
However, according to reports by major media outlets in Japan and South Korea as of the 5th of this month, the leaders of Japan, China and South Korea
The South Korean government, which is the chair of the summit, is reportedly making arrangements to hold the summit in Seoul in late May. According to South Korean public broadcaster KBS, a South Korean presidential office official said, "There is no specific date yet."
"Nothing has been decided," he said, but acknowledged that arrangements were underway to hold the meeting. If the meeting is held, it is expected that Prime Minister Kishida, President Yoon, and Chinese Premier Li Qiang will attend.
According to the South Korean newspaper Dong-A Ilbo, based on interviews with multiple government sources, last month China requested South Korean authorities to hold a Japan-China-South Korea summit.
Regarding the reason why China, which had been reluctant to engage in dialogue with Japan and South Korea, changed its stance, the paper analyzed, "In the end, it appears to be because the conflict with the United States has intensified again recently."
"Since the leaders of the two countries were open to meeting at an early date, discussions of holding a summit suddenly emerged after China made the proposal," the report said.
Kyodo News also commented on the purpose of the event, saying, "Japan and South Korea have a mutual desire to deepen ties with Russia.
However, China is wary of the expansion of security cooperation among Japan, the United States and South Korea, and the Japan-China-South Korea summit is expected to encourage China to take action against North Korea, which is pursuing nuclear and missile development.
If the summit is realized, the two countries are expected to discuss issues such as the situation in East Asia, including the North Korea issue, and the nature of their cooperative relationship in the economic field.
The Asahi Shimbun reported, "In the past, the conflict between Japan, China and South Korea over the issue of historical perceptions has been prominent, but this time the dialogue will take place amid a growing rift between Japan, South Korea and China, who are getting closer."
Regarding the summit, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said on the 5th, "We will make arrangements to hold it as soon as possible." The first summit in about four and a half years is becoming a reality, but the Asahi Shimbun
The article quoted a senior Foreign Ministry official as saying, "Whether the summit can actually be held depends on China. We won't know until the last minute."