A trilateral cooperation secretariat involving South Korea, China and Japan opened Thursday in Seoul with an eye to facilitating cooperation among the three Asian neighbors.

The office was founded after the leaders of the three countries agreed at a summit last year to set up a standing organization devoted to promoting three-way cooperation through joint projects.

In last decade, the three nations have established 17 mechanism of ministerial conference and more than 50 dialogue mechanism.

"The launch of the secretariat, though it wouldn't immediately accomplish many things or resolve outstanding disputes among the three countries, still has symbolic significant," Shin Bong-kil, the first Secretary General of the cooperation office, said.

Shin recently served as South Korea's ambassador for international economic cooperation.