Presidential Office: "Yoon Restores Cooperation Channel with Japan... Expands Collaboration in Economic Security Sector"

President Yoon Suk-yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida are spending a friendly time together at a long-established omurice restaurant in Ginza, Tokyo, Japan, on the afternoon of the 16th.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

The Presidential Office stated on the 18th regarding President Yoon Suk-yeol's visit to Japan that "while making efforts to restore existing cooperation channels with Japan, the scope of cooperation has also been expanded to economic security areas such as supply chain stabilization and promotion of core advanced technologies."

In a press reference material distributed to the media on the same day, the Presidential Office said, "Through the first bilateral summit visit in 12 years, a turning point was established for improving the bilateral relationship, which had deteriorated to the worst level in history."

This is the first time since former Prime Minister Noda Yoshihiko's visit to Korea in 2011 and former President Lee Myung-bak's visit to Japan in December of the same year that the leaders of Korea and Japan have visited each other's countries through a bilateral summit.

The Presidential Office stated that "the 'shuttle diplomacy,' which allows candid discussions on issues between the leaders, has been reactivated" on the occasion of this visit, and added, "We will continuously implement the government task of 'restoring Korea-Japan shuttle diplomacy to rebuild trust and resolve issues.'"

It also mentioned the 'Korea-Japan Future Partnership Fund' announced by the Federation of Korean Industries and Keidanren during President Yoon's visit to Japan, and self-assessed that "from an economic perspective, both countries confirmed their mutual commitment to achieving joint interests such as supply chain stabilization, export market expansion, and strengthening scientific and technological cooperation."

Regarding the agreement between the two countries to launch an 'Economic Security Dialogue' between their National Security Councils (NSC), the Presidential Office said, "It will serve as an opportunity to strengthen cooperation in a direction that promotes the joint interests of both countries on major economic security issues such as emerging and core technology cooperation and technology protection."

It added, "We will concretize follow-up consultations between the two countries to derive practical cooperation measures."

The two leaders also agreed on the need to promptly withdraw unfriendly measures such as export regulations between the two countries. The Presidential Office emphasized, "Japan's export regulations are a representative unfriendly measure triggered by the forced labor issue," and stated, "This has established a substantial foundation for the full-scale improvement of Korea-Japan relations and strengthening economic cooperation."

In particular, it expressed expectations that "following the lifting of export regulations in the semiconductor sector achieved this time, if Korea's reinstatement to the whitelist follows, uncertainties hindering exchanges in the materials, parts, and equipment sectors will be eliminated, and the cooperative atmosphere between the industrial sectors of both countries will be further enhanced."

The Presidential Office added that it will cooperate with Japan, a key partner in frameworks such as the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF), on supply chain cooperation, and expects expanded exports and collaboration in fields such as semiconductors, batteries, electric vehicles, content, and consumer goods.