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TOKYO: Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Tuesday that he intends to do so visiting South Korea next week for talks with President Yun Sok Yul, as the two US allies seek closer ties.
It will be the first visit by a Japanese prime minister to the country since 2018 and comes after Kishida and Yoon agreed to end mutual trade restrictions at the March summit in Tokyo.
The neighbors had a bitter feud for years over Japan’s use of forced labor during World War II.
But Yoon was keen to end the feud and present a united front against regional challenges, including North Korea.
“We are coordinating my visit to South Korea on May 7-8, conditions permitting,” Kishida said in Ghana, the second leg of his four-country African tour and Singapore.
visit before G7 summit In Hiroshima, “a good opportunity to have a candid exchange of views on accelerating Japan-South Korea relations, and the rapidly changing international situation,” he told reporters.
Kishida expressed hope that the trip “will give impetus to ‘shuttle diplomacy’ between Japan and South Korea.”
The leaders pledged in March to resume regular exchange visits, a practice that had been suspended for more than a decade, and Kishida has invited Yoon to attend the G7 summit on May 19-21.
The two countries’ often strained relations deteriorated after South Korea’s Supreme Court in 2018 ordered Japanese companies to compensate victims of wartime forced labor.
But this year, Seoul announced a plan to pay compensation to those affected without Tokyo’s involvement.
In another effort to thaw ties, Japan’s commerce ministry said last week it had begun the process of returning South Korea to its so-called “white list” of trusted trading partners, after it downgraded its rating in 2019.
It will be the first visit by a Japanese prime minister to the country since 2018 and comes after Kishida and Yoon agreed to end mutual trade restrictions at the March summit in Tokyo.
The neighbors had a bitter feud for years over Japan’s use of forced labor during World War II.
But Yoon was keen to end the feud and present a united front against regional challenges, including North Korea.
“We are coordinating my visit to South Korea on May 7-8, conditions permitting,” Kishida said in Ghana, the second leg of his four-country African tour and Singapore.
visit before G7 summit In Hiroshima, “a good opportunity to have a candid exchange of views on accelerating Japan-South Korea relations, and the rapidly changing international situation,” he told reporters.
Kishida expressed hope that the trip “will give impetus to ‘shuttle diplomacy’ between Japan and South Korea.”
The leaders pledged in March to resume regular exchange visits, a practice that had been suspended for more than a decade, and Kishida has invited Yoon to attend the G7 summit on May 19-21.
The two countries’ often strained relations deteriorated after South Korea’s Supreme Court in 2018 ordered Japanese companies to compensate victims of wartime forced labor.
But this year, Seoul announced a plan to pay compensation to those affected without Tokyo’s involvement.
In another effort to thaw ties, Japan’s commerce ministry said last week it had begun the process of returning South Korea to its so-called “white list” of trusted trading partners, after it downgraded its rating in 2019.
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