Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has announced plans to visit South Korea soon, to strengthen ties with President Yoon Suk Yeol before the upcoming Group of Seven (G-7) summit. This visit is being arranged in response to Yoon’s March visit to Tokyo. Japan and South Korea have been working to improve relations that were strained due to the past wars.
Kishida said the goal of his visit would be to give momentum to their diplomatic relations and have an open exchange of views on accelerating Japan-South Korea ties, as well as discussing regional and global matters. It would be the first visit by a Japanese leader to South Korea since Prime Minister Shinzo Abe attended the Pyeongchang Olympics in February 2018. Focus of the talks will be around security cooperation in regards to North Korea and China’s growing threats in the region.
Besides President Yoon, US President Joe Biden was also in the White House recently, and he stated his commitment to the Philippines’ security, noting the long-standing friendship between the two countries.
Japan and South Korea have been able to restore diplomatic ties in March. This was achieved when the South Korean government decided to use national funds to compensate forced labourers, instead of asking Japan to pay. Since then, both nations have been working to restore their bilateral ties, with the first finance minister talks in seven years as an example.
At the G-7 summit in Hiroshima, President Yoon will be invited as one of eight outreach nations. In addition to this, the two leaders might also hold a trilateral meeting with US President Joe Biden, which demonstrates the deep trust the US has for its two key Asian allies.
