South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, sixth from left, visits a historic site in Shanghai that once housed the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea on Jan. 7, 2026. (Yonhap/Kyodo)
SHANGHAI (Kyodo) — South Korean President Lee Jae Myung on Wednesday visited a historic site in Shanghai that once housed the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea established by independence activists during Japan’s 1910-1945 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.
The visit was made on the final day of his four-day state visit to China, during which the South Korean leader referred to the shared wartime history of the two countries that suffered from Japan’s military aggression.
Lee has indicated Seoul will remain neutral amid the ongoing diplomatic row between Beijing and Tokyo over Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s parliamentary remarks in November on a Taiwan contingency.
During their talks on Monday, in Beijing, President Xi Jinping recalled the two sides’ “great sacrifices in resisting Japanese militarism” and said they should jointly “defend the victorious outcomes of World War II.”
Lee told Xi, “Even during times when our national sovereignty was stripped away, we joined hands and fought together for its restoration,” according to the South Korean presidential office.
In his talks with Shanghai’s top Communist Party official Chen Jining on Tuesday, Lee thanked local authorities for preserving historical sites related to the Korean independence movement.
Lee was quoted by South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency as telling Chen, “Keeping alive the records of how we fought so fiercely to protect our national sovereignty will offer an important lesson for future generations.”
Following his China visit, the South Korean leader will likely travel to Japan in mid-January for a summit meeting with Takaichi, with their talks expected to be held in Nara, her home prefecture, according to diplomatic sources.
AloJapan.com