Outgoing Japanese leader expected to visit Korea next week for talks with Lee

Published: 25 Sep. 2025, 17:57

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks during a press conference on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly at the Park Lane hotel in New York City on Sept. 24. [AFP/YONHAP]

 
Korea and Japan are coordinating a visit by outgoing Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba to the Korean port city of Busan next week for talks with President Lee Jae Myung, a Korean official said on Thursday.
 
“We are discussing with the Japanese side plans for Prime Minister Ishiba’s visit at the end of September,” the official said, adding that more details will be made public once finalized.
 
 
Ishiba is expected to make a two-day trip to Busan, located on Korea’s southern coast, starting Tuesday.
 
If confirmed, it will be a reciprocal visit after Lee’s stop in Japan last month before heading to the United States for summit talks with U.S. President Donald Trump.

 
Since taking office in June, Lee has pledged to maintain the thaw in ties and work closely with Tokyo to advance not only bilateral relations but also trilateral cooperation with Washington, while firmly addressing longstanding historical issues stemming from Japan’s 1910-35 colonial rule of Korea.
 
Lee broke with precedent by choosing to visit Japan before the United States as his first overseas trip as president, in an apparent move to demonstrate his commitment to aligning with the two countries.
 
The envisioned visit is expected to be the last trip for Ishiba as prime minister. Ishiba announced his resignation earlier this month, following the ruling party’s crushing defeats in the parliamentary elections in both the lower house last October and the upper house in July of this year.
 
The ruling Liberal Democratic Party is set to elect a new leader on Oct. 4.

Yonhap