South Korean President Moon Jae-in will likely hold a three-way summit with Chinese and Japanese leaders in early May, an official from Seoul's presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said Wednesday.

"It is true the countries are moving to hold the South Korea-China-Japan summit in early May," the official told reporters, asking not to be identified.

The remarks partly confirmed an earlier report that the three countries have agreed to hold the three-way meeting in Tokyo around May 8-9.

The Cheong Wa Dae official said no date has been set while noting his country may want to avoid holding the meeting around May 9, which marks the first anniversary of Moon's election to office.

The three-way summit was last held in Seoul in November 2015. It has since been stalled largely due to what Seoul and Beijing see as Tokyo's attempt to whitewash its wartime atrocities against its Asian neighbors.

저작권자 © The Korea Post 무단전재 및 재배포 금지