Photo/Illutration A meeting among Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Chinese Premier Li Qiang and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol at the state guest house in Seoul on May 27 (Koichi Ueda)

SEOUL--Leaders from Japan, China and South Korea agreed to hasten negotiations on a three-way free trade agreement and work on "Korean Peninsula issues" after North Korea rattled Tokyo and Seoul by announcing a planned rocket launch.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida demanded that North Korea scuttle the launch at the outset of the meeting here with Chinese Premier Li Qiang and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol on May 27.

“If North Korea proceeds, it would be a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions, and I strongly call for a halt,” Kishida said.

Kishida said he wanted to “strengthen communication among the three countries” over the international situation including responses to North Korea.

Yoon also said, “We must respond decisively (if North Korea launches a rocket).”

Li did not touch on how to respond to North Korea at the start of the meeting. Beijing has maintained close ties with Pyongyang.

North Korea notified the Japan Coast Guard on May 27 that it will launch what it calls a “satellite rocket” between midnight on May 27 and midnight on June 4.

Pyongyang said in November that it successfully launched a military reconnaissance satellite after failed launches in May and August of a satellite rocket using ballistic missile technology.

The meeting among the leaders of Japan, China and South Korea was the first since the one held in the Chinese city of Chengdu in December 2019.

A joint declaration released after the meeting on May 27 said the three countries will promote cooperation in six areas, including personal exchanges, climate change and economy and trade, and accelerate negotiations on a free trade agreement.

The declaration also said they agreed to continue to make efforts for “a political resolution of the Korean Peninsula issues.”

A trilateral meeting was not held for more than four years due to the global spread of the novel coronavirus and also because bilateral relations worsened among the three countries.

Japan’s ties with South Korea have improved since 2019, when the two countries were at odds over wartime Korean laborers in Japan, Tokyo’s export controls to Seoul and other issues.

On the other hand, Japan’s relations with China have worsened over discharges of treated radioactive water from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, China’s import ban on Japanese marine products and other issues.

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