Seoul, Jumada II 1, 1436, Mar 21, 2015, SPA -- South Korea, Japan, and China brought together their foreign ministers Saturday for the first time in nearly three years to try to strengthen their relations, which have been battered by territorial disputes and historical conflicts, according to dpa. South Korea's Yun Byung Se, Japan's Fumio Kishida and China's Wang Yi expressed in a joint statement their hope that the "trilateral cooperation mechanism" would again go into effect. The mechanism formalized cooperation among the three countries, and a secretariat was established for it in 2011. -- SPA 18:07 LOCAL TIME 15:07 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/1340957