Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Chinese President Xi Jinping have agreed to deepen cooperation between the two countries on North Korea, Abe said on Saturday after meeting Xi.

They also agreed to accelerate talks for an early implementation of a communication mechanism between their military forces, and to hold a trilateral summit with South Korea at the earliest possible date, Abe told reporters.

The two leaders met on the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Vietnam.

Abe said Xi had told him the meeting marked a "new start of Japan-China relations".

- Reuters