Lee, Aso, Wen agree on action plans to fight financial crisis

(ATTN: UPDATES with joint press conference in paras 4-8)
By Yoo Cheong-mo
FUKUOKA, Japan, Dec. 13 (Yonhap) -- The leaders of South Korea, Japan and China
agreed Saturday to widen cooperation in promoting free trade, fiscal expansion
and currency swaps to weather the global economic crisis at an unprecedented
trilateral summit, South Korea's presidential office said.
South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso and
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao also agreed to reinforce tripartite partnership for
"regional stability, prosperity and peace," while expressing regrets at North
Korea's recent refusal to agree to verification measures for its nuclear program,
said the office in a press release.
The meeting in the Japanese city of Fukuoka marked the first three-way summit
held separately from multilateral international forums. The three countries have
met annually on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN) Plus Three summit.
"It was a historic meeting, as leaders of South Korea, Japan and China got
together at one place within the region for the first time," Lee said in a joint
press conference after the summit.
"I found through this summit talks that the three countries share common visions.
All problems can be resolved through dialogue. Closer cooperation among the three
will enhance the development of the entire world, as well as of the region.
Korea's latest currency swap deals with Japan and China also illustrate the
importance of regional cooperation."
Lee called for closer tripartite cooperation in persuading North Korea to give up
its nuclear program through the six-party talks, saying the North's nuclear
problem will eventually be resolved, though it may take longer-than-expected
time.
Aso and Wen also attached special meaning to the first tripartite summit in their
separate remarks at the press conference at the Kyushu National Museum in
downtown Fukuoka.
Noting South Korea, Japan and China account for 16.7 percent of the world's gross
domestic product, Aso said the three-way summit is a "revolutionary" event that
will greatly contribute to the global stability and prosperity.
As part of efforts to strengthen economic partnership, meanwhile, the three
countries agreed to accelerate preparatory moves for bilateral and trilateral
free trade talks, regularly hold meetings of their foreign ministers, improve
business environment for one another's companies and intensify three-way
cooperation in the fields of energy, financial markets and logistics, according
to the press release.
"Lee, Aso and Wen, while taking note of the importance of frequent dialogue among
their countries, agreed to regularly hold the tripartite summit meeting," said a
joint statement issued earlier after the summit.
"The three leaders agreed to strengthen policy cooperation between their
countries for the denuclearization of North Korea after expressing regrets at the
North's 'uncooperative attitude' shown at the just-concluded six-party talks."
South Korea, the U.S., Japan, China and Russia have been engaged in the
China-hosted six-party talks with North Korea, which has agreed in principle to
scrap its nuclear program in return for aid and diplomatic benefits.
But the latest session of the six-party talks broke down Thursday after North
Korea refused to accept a Chinese draft verification plan that called for nuclear
inspectors to be able to remove samples from North Korean nuclear sites for
outside analysis.
Following their summit meeting, Lee, Aso and Wen issued three joint statements
calling for tripartite partnership, closer cooperation over the global financial
crisis and disaster management cooperation.
In addition, they adopted a three-way action plan calling for holding the
tripartite summit annually and establish a tripartite cyberspace secretariat in
2009.
Under the agreement, next year's tripartite summit will take place in China,
while South Korea will host one in 2010.
"The three leaders underlined the importance of a series of international
meetings and cooperative efforts aimed at stabilizing financial markets and
restoring global growth. The leaders also stressed the importance of further
enhancing regional cooperation to address the turmoil of financial markets," said
one of the statements.
"They shared the view that Asian countries are expected to play a role as 'the
center of world economic growth' in order to reverse the downward trend of the
world economy and return it to the path of sustainable growth."
Meanwhile, the three leaders agreed on reinforcing existing currency swap deals
concluded between their countries and accelerate a separate agreement with ASEAN
member states to create an US$80 billion joint fund by next June to cushion the
region against the financial crisis.
On Friday, South Korea's central bank announced agreements with its Japanese and
Chinese counterparts to expand the ceiling of their respective foreign currency
credit swap lines to $30 billion.
South Korea, faced with a weakening won and declining foreign exchange reserves,
has long sought to expand its foreign currency swap lines with the U.S., Japan
and China.
The three leaders also discussed regional follow-up measures for the agreements
reached at the Group of 20 summit held in the U.S. last month before exchanging
opinions on the agenda for the next G-20 summit slated for April 2 in London.
Lee was to return home late Saturday night after attending a dinner hosted by Aso.
ycm@yna.co.kr
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