The talks were an effort to calm regional tensions stoked by territorial disputes and historical rows with roots in Japan's colonisation of the Korean peninsula and occupation of parts of China before and during World War II.
In a joint statement, the three countries said they had agreed to set up a three-way summit of their respective leaders "at the earliest convenient time."
They also declared their "firm opposition" to the development of nuclear weapons on the Korean peninsula -- a clear reference to North Korea's nuclear ambitions.
Their resumption marks a thaw of sorts that would be further underscored if a leadership summit could be set up later this year.
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The last such summit took place in May 2012, and all three countries have appointed new leaders since then.
Lingering animosities, fuelled by ongoing sovereignty rows over island territories, have seen Beijing and Seoul maintain a frosty distance from Tokyo in recent years, hindering co-operation between the three Asian powers who collectively account for roughly 20 per cent of global GDP.
But Park has refused to sit down one-on-one with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, while Xi has only managed a brief meeting with Abe on the sidelines of an APEC gathering in Beijing last year.
China and South Korea, whose ties are strong, feel Japan has failed to express sufficient remorse for its wartime past.
Both reacted furiously when, in December 2103, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited a Tokyo shrine that honours Japan's war dead, including a number of senior war criminals.