Korean Foreign Minister Yun Bung-se, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, and Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida met in Seoul on Saturday, convening the annual trilateral foreign ministers’ meeting for the first time in three years ― a much needed occasion as the Northeast Asian region faces growing challenges to regional peace and security as well as economic cooperation.

It is telling of the strained relations among the countries that the meeting also marked the first time in five years that a joint statement was adopted. There were no meetings in the previous three years as conditions in the region deteriorated, and in two earlier meetings the three sides could not agree on a joint statement.

As the foreign ministers’ joint statement showed, all three countries are united against North Korea’s development of nuclear weapons and committed to continuing efforts to resume the Six-Party Talks. The three countries reaffirmed their opposition to the development of nuclear weapons on the Korean Peninsula and called for the implementation of U.N. Security Council resolutions on the matter and the Sept. 19, 2005, Joint Statement. The statement, which called for North Korea to abandon all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programs, was the first major result of the Six-Party Talks.

All three countries also recognized the need to convene a trilateral summit meeting at the earliest convenient time. In order for this to be realized, however, Japan must first come to terms with history. President Park Geun-hye has consistently shunned a summit meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe without first resolving the issue of military sex slaves, for example. Hence, it was significant that the joint statement referred to the disputes over history. “In the spirit of facing history squarely and advancing the future, the three ministers agreed that the three countries should address related issues properly and to work to improve bilateral relations to strengthen trilateral cooperation.”

It is expected that the countries would push for a trilateral summit sometime this year. If the trilateral summit is to be realized, Japan must send a clear message about its position on history. It has two occasions to do so: Abe’s address before the joint U.S. Congress next month and Abe’s statement marking the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II in August.

Fortunately, the absence of ministerial-level meetings did not preclude working-level meetings among the three countries. Indeed, there are more than 50 intergovernmental consultative mechanisms as well as numerous cooperation projects in place.

However, unless the leaders of the three countries can agree on the fundamental issue of history, progress toward stability and cooperation in the region appears elusive.