TOKYO – Japan and South Korea are arranging for President Lee Jae Myung to visit Japan in mid-January for summit talks with Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, diplomatic sources said Thursday.
If realized, Lee’s visit, the first since August, will be symbolic of a recent improvement in bilateral ties, long frayed over issues related to wartime history and territory.
The leaders are expected to confirm a policy of maintaining close communication through reciprocal visits and developing “future-oriented” ties. They held their first in-person talks in October on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in South Korea after she became Japan’s first female prime minister earlier that month.
As Lee has said South Korea intends to mediate between Japan and China over their recent diplomatic row over Takaichi’s remarks suggesting her country could respond if Taiwan comes under attack, attention will also be focused on Seoul’s role in easing the standoff, the sources said.
The leaders’ talks are likely to be held in Nara, Takaichi’s home prefecture, following a September meeting between her predecessor Shigeru Ishiba and Lee in South Korea’s southern city of Busan — also a non-capital venue.
Takaichi and Lee are expected to discuss trilateral cooperation involving the United States aimed at the denuclearization of North Korea, amid its ongoing nuclear weapons development.
They may also exchange views on similar social challenges facing both countries, including declining birthrates and the revitalization of regional areas.
Reciprocal visits by the two countries’ leaders, based on an agreement dating back to 2004, had stalled from 2011 amid disputes stemming from Japan’s 1910-1945 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula. They resumed in 2023 following progress in a row regarding compensation demands from South Koreans over wartime labor.
Lee, as South Korea’s president, visited Japan in August for the first time and met with Ishiba in Tokyo.
AloJapan.com