There is a possibility that Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who is scheduled to retire at the end of next month, will visit South Korea in early next month to hold a Korea-Japan summit.
On the 20th, Japan's Kyodo News, citing diplomatic sources, reported that Prime Minister Kishida is considering visiting South Korea in early next month to hold a summit with President Yoon Suk-yeol. It is reported that Kishida hopes to meet President Yoon before his retirement to review the progress made in improving Korea-Japan relations and to confirm continued cooperation in areas such as security.
Prime Minister Kishida is scheduled to step down at the end of next month. He has announced that he will not run in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) leadership election scheduled for the 27th of next month. In Japan’s constitutional parliamentary system, the leader of the ruling party serves as prime minister, so the announcement of not running in the leadership election is synonymous with announcing retirement from the prime ministership.
On the 14th, at a press conference where he declared he would not run in the leadership election, Kishida reflected on his three-year tenure and cited major achievements such as "improving Korea-Japan relations" and "the inscription of Sado Mine as a World Heritage site." He especially emphasized that "next year marks the 60th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between Korea and Japan," and stated, "We must make the normalization of Korea-Japan relations even more solid," urging that the next elected party leader should also firmly maintain Korea-Japan relations.
However, Kyodo News noted that there is critical public opinion in South Korea toward the Yoon administration regarding issues such as the inscription of Sado Mine as a World Heritage site, and that the South Korean government may view this visit negatively, making the realization of the visit uncertain.
At the Japan-South Korea summit held last May at the Yongsan Presidential Office in Seoul, President Yoon Suk-yeol (right) is shaking hands with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. [Image source=Yonhap News]
A senior official from the presidential office stated regarding the possibility of Prime Minister Kishida’s visit to South Korea, "Nothing has been decided yet." The official explained, "Even before Kishida’s decision not to run in the LDP leadership election, the Japanese side had expressed Kishida’s intention to visit South Korea, and discussions have continued after the announcement." The official added, "President Yoon is willing to meet Prime Minister Kishida anytime as part of shuttle diplomacy between Korea and Japan," and "We will announce any confirmed matters."
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