A united front on North Korea and trade, but sticking points remain

Tokyo

THE leaders of Japan, China and South Korea may have put on a united front on North Korea and free trade at a trilateral summit on Wednesday morning, but by press time, they had still not issued a joint declaration of their meeting.

In feel-good remarks after a 75-minute meeting - their first in over 2½ years - they stuck largely to broad strokes without diving into the finer details that are at the root of their disagreements.

Papering over these cracks, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and South Korean President Moon Jae In emphasised that they w…