The top diplomats of China and Japan were to fly into South Korea on Friday to attend a trilateral foreign ministers' meeting also involving Seoul's top diplomat slated for this weekend, the foreign ministry said.
  

The meeting scheduled for Saturday in Seoul will bring together South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se and his Chinese and Japanese counterparts, Wang Yi and Fumio Kishida, the ministry said.
  

Wang and Kishida are slated to arrive in Seoul late Friday for a three-day stay to join the three-way ministerial meeting that will be held for the first time in almost three years.
  

Kishida's visit marks his first trip to South Korea since he took up the post in December 2012.
  

A trilateral meeting of foreign ministers has not been held since April 2012 as South Korea's and China's bilateral relations with Japan remain strained due to historical and territorial rows.
  

On the sidelines of the trilateral talks, Yun plans to hold a bilateral meeting with Wang and Kishida early Saturday, according to the foreign ministry.
  

"Yun and Kishida are expected to reaffirm the importance of improving the Seoul-Tokyo ties as this year marks the 50th anniversary of the normalization of the relationship," said an official at the foreign ministry, asking not to be named.
  

He said that the signing of a free trade agreement and other bilateral issues such as maritime border demarcation are likely to be discussed when Yun meets with Wang.
  

But experts said that China is widely expected to bring up the issue of Washington's possible deployment of an advanced U.S. missile-defense system on Korean soil.
  

Liu Jianchao, the Chinese assistant minister of foreign affairs, called on South Korea on Monday to take heed of Beijing's concern over the possible deployment of a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense battery in South Korea.
  

A day later, Seoul's defense ministry urged neighboring countries not to try to influence its decision on a THAAD deployment in what could be its thinly-veiled criticism over China's pressure against the move.
  

Seoul and Tokyo are widely expected to discuss the issue of Japan's sexual enslavement of Korean women during World War II at the bilateral talks, officials said.
  

Since taking office in early 2013, South Korean President Park Geun-hye has shunned a bilateral summit with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, calling on Japan to first sincerely apologize for the sex slavery issue. (Yonhap)