the leaders of japan and south korea are meeting in the chinese city of chengdu for talks. there will also be a joint meeting with the chinese premier, li keqiang. it's the first time the south korean president moonjae—in and the japanese prime minister, shinzo abe, have spoken face to face in fifteen months. our seoul correspondent — laura bicker sent this report on the summit. the talks in chengdu between china, south korea and japan, these three big asian powerhouses will focus on trade and also security with regards to north korea. however, attention is now turning towards a key meeting inafew is now turning towards a key meeting in a few hours time between the leaders of japan and south korea. prime minister shinzo abe from tokyo and ciel‘s president moonjae—in. now why is the focus turning there? because it is the first meeting that had in15 because it is the first meeting that had in 15 months and it comes amidst heightened tensions between these two key us allies. it all dates back to historical dispute whenjapan occupied the crimean potential are between 19

in asia, so we can expect these three leaders to keep us busy this week as they meet in beijing and chengdu this christmas week. and of course they have historical issues which date back all the way to the second world war. this is an ongoing dialogue, but they have been issues in the past. since president tom's trade war against china, that really seems to have changed the dynamics between the three, so china really needs close friends in asia, so just ahead of this summit, china announced it is going to cut some tariffs from the first of january. the optimistic views about the trade talks between the us and china, but of course that are cautious views as well, as these leaders are likely to discuss that and also they will talking about north korea and, on the other hand, japan and south korea have their own trades but as well. so there is a lot to discuss over this christmas week. now let's brief you on some other business stories. boeing's starliner astronaut space craft has returned to earth, after a failed mission to the international space station. the uncrewed demonstration flight la

prime minister shinzo abe and south korean president moon jae—in, they will be meeting in beijing and chengdu this christmas week but historical tensions over issues dating back to the second world war have repeatedly prevented any major breakthroughs on the economic and political fronts, any major breakthroughs on the economic and politicalfronts, but from the‘s trade war with china may have changed the dynamics. —— president trump's. the rest of the week... later today japan's central bank releases the details of its monetary policy decision from november. then on tuesday, christmas eve, the bank of korea's financial stability board will have its meeting and then christmas day is not a public holiday injapan or china, with the bank of japan's governor speaking at an event. on thursday, japan reports its retail sales for the month of november and this is important because this is the data that could see the impact from the governor raising the country's sales tax from 8—10% in october —— government. to the philippines, where president duterte has recently banned vaping in public