President Park Geun-hye returned home Monday after attending the funeral ceremony of Singapore's founding father Lee Kuan Yew.

It was the first time for Park to attend a funeral of an overseas political leader since she took office in 2013.

In Singapore, Park briefly met with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at a reception Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong hosted for dozens of leaders and dignitaries who came to the city state Sunday for the funeral ceremony of his father.

Park proposed that South Korea, China and Japan take necessary steps as reached by the three nations' top diplomats earlier this month, according to presidential spokesman Min Kyung-wook.

Abe expressed gratitude to Park for a successful meeting of the foreign ministers, said Min.

The foreign ministers of the three countries have agreed to continue efforts to hold a trilateral summit of their leaders at their earliest convenience.

A trilateral summit has not been held since May 2012 due to tensions mainly over Tokyo's attempts to whitewash its wartime atrocities and colonial occupation. Japan ruled the Korean Peninsula as a colony from 1910-45 and controlled much of China in the early part of the 20th century.

Also in Singapore, Park met with Chinese Vice President Li Yuanchao and called for close consultation between Seoul and Beijing for the success of the China-led regional development bank.

Park's comments came three days after South Korea agreed to join the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank as one of its founding members.

Many experts see the bank meant to fund infrastructure projects in Asia as a counterbalance to the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank, which have been dominated by the U.S. and other Western economies.

Park also briefly met with former U.S. President Bill Clinton, who led the U.S. delegation to Lee's funeral ceremony. (Yonhap)