Japan PM Kishida to visit South Korea in early May for summit with Yoon
Diplomat Times (Tokyo)- Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is considering visiting South Korea in early May to meet with President Yoon Suk Yeol, officials said, reciprocating a Tokyo visit by the South Korean leader last month.
If realized, Kishida’s trip to South Korea would be the first by a Japanese premier in five years. Both governments are working on a plan for Kishida to visit on May 7 and 8, the sources said, an apparent bid to promote better relations ahead of the May 19-21 Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima.
Kishida and Yoon agreed to improve Tokyo-Seoul relations, which soured in recent years to the worst level in decades, and visit each other’s countries more often during their talks in March in Tokyo.
Japan and South Korea have long been at odds over issues related to Japan’s colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula before and during World War II, such as wartime labor for Japanese companies.
Kishida has invited Yoon to the summit of the G-7 industrialized nations and the leaders plan to hold bilateral talks on the sidelines of the gathering in the western Japan city.
A Japanese government official and another official from a Group of Seven government said the meeting was expected before Kishida hosts a G7 summit from May 19.
Kishida may visit S. Korea in early May to further mend ties: sourceshttps://t.co/ypa2SnCXxY#KyodoNewsPlus
— Kyodo News | Japan (@kyodo_english) April 29, 2023
Japan’s Kyodo news agency said on Saturday 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 two neighbors’ strengthening of cooperation over North Korea ahead of the Hiroshima G7 summit, Kyodo said.
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Asked about reports of the bilateral summit, Kishida said in remarks broadcast by public network NHK that nothing concrete had been decided.
An answering machine at Japan’s foreign ministry on Saturday said no one was available over the weekend.
An answering machine at Japan’s foreign ministry on Saturday said no one was available over the weekend.
Ties between Japan and South Korea, long strained by issues including war time compensation and trade, have been improving in recent months in the face of North Korea’s frequent missile launches and China’s more muscular role on the global stage.
The two sides agreed to revive shuttle diplomacy when Yoon met with Kishida in Tokyo in March, the first Japan visit by a South Korean president in 12 years.
The last visit to South Korea by a Japanese premier was in February 2018, when then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe attended the opening ceremony of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.
Bilateral ties hit their lowest point in decades after South Korea’s Supreme Court in 2018 ordered two Japanese firms to compensate Korean plaintiffs for alleged forced labor during Japan’s colonial rule of the peninsula.
U.S. President Joe Biden this week praised Yoon’s efforts toward improving relations with Japan during a visit by Yoon to Washington. Biden, Yoon and Kishida are to meet on the sidelines of the Hiroshima summit, according to Japanese media reports.
North Korea’s Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of leader Kim Jong Un, said a U.S.-South Korea agreement this week about the need to shore up South Korean security will worsen the situation, according to state media KCNA.
North Korea is convinced it must further perfect a “nuclear war deterrent” as a result, Kim was quoted as saying.
Disclaimer: This report is auto generated from the REUTERS and KYODO NEWS Diplomat Times holds no responsibility for its content.
(Reporting by Kevin Buckland and Kentaro Sugiyama in Tokyo and Trevor Hunnicutt in Washington; Editing by Lincoln Feast and Shasi Kumar, Kwang Ho)