The top diplomats of South Korea, China and Japan have agreed to accelerate efforts to hold a trilateral summit at the earliest time.

The agreement was reached in a three-way meeting of foreign minister Park Jin and his Chinese and Japanese counterparts, Wang Yi and Yoko Kamikawa, in the southeastern port city of Busan on Sunday.

After the 100-minute talks, Park told reporters that the three sides reaffirmed their commitment to convene a summit at the earliest convenient time for all parties, and promised to expedite preparations for the summit.

In a senior officials' meeting in late September, the three countries agreed to hold the tripartite summit at the “earliest convenient time.”

While Park did not elaborate any further on the timeline of the anticipated summit, the lack of an agreement on the timing suggests that it is unlikely to happen within this year as South Korea, the chair of the next summit, had hoped.

The top diplomats did not hold a joint press conference after the trilateral meeting, which was held for the first time in four years and three months since August 2019 in Beijing, China.