“You probably do not know that there is the Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat (TCS) in Korea. Although it is rarely known in Japan or China, it is an international organization jointly funded by South Korea, Japan and China and established to promote peace and common prosperity among the three neighbors. Its secretary-general and two deputy secretaries-general are selected alternately among the three countries for a term of two years.

The three countries had complicated relationships. Rarely had the leaders of the three neighbors sat together at one place. However, the establishment of the diplomatic relationship between South Korea and China changed the situation, leading to trilateral summits held on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) since the late 1990s. The three countries took turns hosting the trilateral summit since 2008, necessitated by the dazzling regional economic development and the need to cooperate among them.”

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