Trilateral Fm Meeting Unlikely this Year

Foreign ministers of South Korea, China and Japan are unlikely to meet before the end of the year, delaying a possible summit among the three countries.

The three nations have been seeking to hold the foreign ministers' meeting to lay the groundwork for such an envisioned trilateral summit.

President Park Geun-hye offered a surprise proposal for a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during the ASEAN+3 meeting in Myanmar in November

She suggested a meeting of the foreign ministers to discuss preparations for the summit.

But the three nations have failed to make progress in their talks for the meeting, with Japan holding an election, according to officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Abe's conservative Liberal Democratic Party expanded its majority in Japan's lower house in the election over the weekend. The landslide win has triggered anxiety in Seoul and Beijing that he will likely step up his nationalistic approach in dealing with history and regional security issues.

China called...