South Korea, China and Japan will hold a foreign ministerial meeting next week.

South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-hwa and his Japanese counterpart Taro Kono during talks on the sidelines of the Regional Forum in Bangkok on August 1, 2019. Photo: Yonhap

This is the first trilateral meeting since 2016, as Seoul and Tokyo appear to be mired in historical and trade feuds, creating a risky prospect for the two countries' cooperation to protect regional stability.

Whether the foreign ministers of South Korea and Japan will have a bilateral meeting to seek solutions to the fierce conflicts between the two countries is currently the issue at the center of attention.

In a speech marking the 74th anniversary of the Liberation of the Korean Peninsula from Japanese colonial rule, President Moon Jae-in affirmed that South Korea is “ready to join hands” with Japan, if the latter chooses the path of “dialogue and cooperation.”

The dispute between the two countries broke out early last month when Tokyo imposed export controls on three key materials to South Korea. Tensions escalated when Japan announced it would remove South Korea from its “white list” of countries that enjoy preferential import treatment from Japan, and Seoul announced similar retaliation.