SEOUL: The premiers of China and Japan will arrive in Seoul on Sunday for their first trilateral summit in five years, which is expected to focus on economic issues rather than geopolitical matters.

Chinese Premier Li Qiang and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida are scheduled to meet with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol separately after their arrival in the South Korean capital.

On Monday the three leaders will hold a trilateral meeting, the first such encounter in five years.

Despite North Korea conducting ever-more advanced weapons tests and China staging military drills around Taiwan, experts expect the summit to ignore security issues and seek common ground for easy diplomatic wins.

Yoon, who took office in 2022, has sought to bury the historical hatchet with former colonial power Japan in the face of rising threats from nuclear-armed North Korea.

China is North Korea's largest trading partner and a key diplomatic ally, and it has previously resisted condemning Pyongyang for its weapons tests, instead criticizing joint US-South Korea drills.

An official from Seoul's presidential office said North Korea-related issues "are difficult to resolve cleanly and quickly in a short time," so the summit will focus more on economic cooperation.

"A joint declaration is currently being discussed," he said, adding that Seoul would try to include security issues "to a certain extent."

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