China, Japan and South Korea to cooperate on drafting plastic agreement in Busan in November

South Korea, Japan, and China have agreed to join forces to reach an agreement at the 5th Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee for the International Convention on Plastics, which will be held in Busan in November.
According to the Ministry of Environment of South Korea (equivalent to the Ministry of the Environment in Japan), the environmental ministers of Japan, China and South Korea will hold the 25th 3rd Jeju International Convention in Seogwipo, Jeju on the 28th and 29th.
The 25th TEMM25, the meeting of the Environment Ministers of the 30 member countries, adopted a joint agreement that included these contents.
In order to reduce contamination, the three countries have expressed their intention to actively participate in the Fifth Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastics Convention (INC-5) to be held in Busan in November and to produce substantial results such as a final draft.
The Plastics Convention is a legally binding international treaty that covers the entire cycle of plastics, from production and consumption to waste disposal, and includes obligations and implementation plans.
During a bilateral meeting with Japanese Environment Minister Shintaro Ito, Kim said that since both countries have supported approaches that take into account the individual circumstances of each country,
They also proposed expanding the scope of cooperation. They also agreed that Japan, which is the Asia-Pacific chair of the plastics convention, will join forces with Korea to reach a consensus.
During a meeting with Chinese Minister of Ecology and Environment Huang Yun-shu, Minister Kim Wan-seop said that they would cooperate on a full-cycle scientific approach to reduce plastic production.
He stressed that a breakthrough must be prepared for the deal to be concluded. The Like-Minded Group (LMG), which includes major plastic producing countries and Middle Eastern countries,
China, a member of the Global Plastics Group, is known to be opposed to including a target for reducing the production of petroleum-based "first-round plastics" in the agreement.
The TEMM25 joint agreement also includes provisions to strengthen cooperation on climate change, biodiversity, and mitigating yellow sand between the three countries (Japan, China, Korea, and Mongolia).
At the same time, China and South Korea also conveyed requests to Japan through bilateral meetings regarding the treated water at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.