Seoul, November 1

The biggest result of the first meeting of South Korean, Chinese and Japanese leaders in more than three years? More meetings.

But for three Northeast Asian economic and diplomatic heavyweights who spend a huge amount of time bickering over history and territory, the agreement for more dialogue at today’s rare summit was a significant step forward.

The long-running spat between Seoul and Tokyo, crucial US allies, has been especially worrying for Washington as it looks to counter China’s rise and North Korea’s pursuit of nuclear bombs.

High-level contact between Tokyo and its two Asian neighbours nose-dived after hawkish Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took office in late 2012. Beijing and Seoul see Abe as whitewashing Japan’s wartime atrocities.

A joint statement issued after the meeting said the sides agreed to try to resolve history-related issues and improve ties by “facing history squarely and advancing towards the future.”

The countries also pledged to hold a leaders’ summit every year and push to deepen their economic cooperation by accelerating free trade negotiations among themselves. They also reaffirmed a resolve to resume stalled international negotiations on North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.

South Korean President Park Geun-hye said at a joint news conference with Abe and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang that the resumption of cooperation among the countries was “historically important.”

“I think we took a big step toward peace and prosperity in Northeast Asia,” Park said. The leaders did not take questions at the news conference.

Starting his speech with a friendly “Hello” in Korean, Abe said he exchanged opinions on how to achieve regional prosperity with Park and Li in a “considerably candid manner.” He said Japan would host a leaders’ summit next year. “Due to the reason that everyone knows, a trilateral cooperation has been hampered over the past three years,” Li said through an interpreter.