South Korea has proposed holding a foreign ministerial meeting with Japan and China late next month and Tokyo is positive about the plan, diplomatic sources said Thursday, a move that could pave the way for a trilateral summit that has not been held since 2019.

The envisioned three-way talks, currently sought around Nov. 26 in the South Korean port city of Busan, comes on the back of a thaw in the ties between Tokyo and Seoul that had deteriorated over wartime compensation issues.

Final arrangements will be made for the gathering, expected to be attended by Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa and Chinese and South Korean counterparts, Wang Yi and Park Jin, taking into consideration Beijing's response and the latest international situations.

Usually, a leaders' meeting between the three countries follows working-level discussions and foreign ministerial talks.

The three governments' senior officials agreed in late September to hold a summit at an early date and a foreign ministerial meeting in Busan in November.

The three East Asian nations had agreed in 2008 to hold trilateral summits on an annual basis, but such a meeting has not been held since December 2019 in China. South Korea is currently the rotating chair of the trilateral framework.

The hiatus coincided with the increasingly souring Japan-South Korea relationship and the coronavirus pandemic. But the bilateral ties have been rapidly improving after South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, who took office last year, proposed a solution to the thorny dispute over wartime labor compensation in March this year.

While ties between Tokyo and Beijing have recently been strained over the release of treated radioactive wastewater from Japan's disaster-hit Fukushima nuclear power plant, Japan has been underscoring the importance of the trilateral dialogue.

Kamikawa, who became foreign minister in mid-September, said during a media interview earlier this month that the three nations "share a great responsibility for the peace and prosperity of the region."

The trilateral dialogue is a "venue for discussion on the direction of cooperation," she said.

If the foreign ministerial talks realize, Kamikawa may also have bilateral meetings separately with Wang and Park, according to the sources.