WNAM REPORT: Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is scheduled to visit South Korea from Sept. 6 to 7, the presidential office in Seoul said Tuesday.
During the visit, President Yoon Suk Yeol plans to hold bilateral talks with Kishida to review the achievements of their bilateral cooperation and explore ways to further enhance collaboration at the bilateral, regional and international levels.
“Prime Minister Kishida’s visit to South Korea will include a schedule similar to previous visits, including the bilateral summit meeting planned. The talks will focus on discussing ways to enhance bilateral cooperation, as well as collaboration on the regional and international stages. The specific agenda is currently being arranged through diplomatic channels,” an official from the presidential office said.
The visit will be Kishida’s second visit to Korea this year alone, and the 12th summit between Yoon and Kishida since the Korean president took office in May 2022.
This summit is expected to be the final official bilateral meeting between Yoon and Kishida before the Japanese prime minister’s anticipated retirement from office at the end of this month.
Kishida has announced that he will not run in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s leadership election scheduled for Sept. 27. Given Japan’s parliamentary cabinet system, where the leader of the majority party becomes the prime minister, his decision not to seek reelection indicates he will not pursue another term.
Despite his imminent departure from office, Kishida has expressed a strong desire to visit South Korea before his retirement. Diplomatic observers view the visit as an effort to reaffirm and highlight the strengthened Korea-Japan and Korea-U.S.-Japan cooperation.
In Kishida’s press conference on Aug. 14 where he announced he would not run in the party leadership election, he pointed out the improvement of Korea-Japan relations as one of the major achievements of his tenure and emphasized the need to further solidify bilateral ties as the two countries approach the 60th anniversary of their diplomatic normalization next year.
Korea’s Foreign Affairs Minister Cho Tae-yul said in a recent media interview that Korea’s trilateral cooperation with the U.S. and Japan will be maintained despite Kishida’s stepping down and U.S. President Joe Biden’s decision not to pursue reelection in November. Cho said discussions are ongoing to hold another trilateral summit among the three countries by the end of this year.
