Global Courant 2023-04-29 09:55:00
TOKYO — Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is expected to visit South Korea in the coming weeks and meet with President Yoon Suk-yeol.
A Japanese government official and another official from a Group of Seven government said the meeting was expected before Kishida hosts a May 19 G-7 summit.
Japan’s Kyodo news agency said on Saturday that the two will meet around May 7 or 8, citing multiple unnamed Japanese and South Korean diplomatic sources.
Their aim will be to confirm the strengthening of cooperation between the two neighbors in North Korea ahead of the Hiroshima G-7 summit, Kyodo said.
When asked about the bilateral summit’s reports, Mr Kishida said in remarks broadcast by public network NHK that nothing concrete had been decided yet.
An answering machine from Japan’s foreign ministry said on Saturday that no one was available over the weekend.
Ties between Japan and South Korea, long strained by issues such as wartime compensation and trade, have improved in recent months amid North Korea’s frequent missile launches and China’s more muscular role on the world stage.
The two sides agreed to revive shuttle diplomacy when Mr. Yoon met Mr. Kishida in Tokyo in March, the first visit to Japan by a South Korean president in 12 years.
According to NHK, the last visit by a Japanese prime minister to South Korea was from Shinzo Abe in 2018.
US President Joe Biden this week praised Mr Yoon’s efforts to improve relations with Japan during the South Korean president’s visit to Washington.
Mr. Biden, Mr. Yoon and Mr. Kishida will meet on the sidelines of the Hiroshima summit, according to Japanese media reports.
North Korean Kim Yo Jong, leader Kim Jong-un’s powerful sister, said an agreement between the US and South Korea this week on the need to strengthen South Korean security will worsen the situation, state media said KCNA.
North Korea is convinced it needs to further perfect a “nuclear war deterrent” as a result, Ms. Kim said. REUTERS
