Japanese Prime Minister Ishiba to Visit Korea from 30th to 1st... Summit with President Lee in Busan at President's Invitation

Visiting Busan Instead of the Capital Seoul
First Time in 21 Years Since Roh Moo-hyun and Junichiro Koizumi
"Strengthening Future-Oriented Cooperation Between the Two Countries"

President Lee Jae-myung visited Japan for a one-night, two-day trip on the 23rd of last month and shook hands with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba during a small-scale Korea-Japan summit meeting at the Prime Minister's Official Residence in Tokyo, Japan. Photo by Yonhap News

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba will visit South Korea on the 30th. President Lee Jaemyung will hold a summit meeting with Prime Minister Ishiba in Busan.

Kang Yujeong, spokesperson for the Presidential Office, stated on the 26th, "Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba of Japan will visit South Korea for one night and two days from the 30th to the 1st at the invitation of President Lee Jaemyung," adding, "The two leaders are scheduled to hold a Korea-Japan summit and other events in Busan."

This will be the first time in 21 years since 2004 that a Japanese prime minister meets the South Korean president in a city other than Seoul. At that time, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi held a Korea-Japan summit with President Roh Moo-hyun in Jeju Island. It is known that President Lee and Prime Minister Ishiba expressed their desire to visit each other's regional cities during a dinner held at the Japanese embassy last month.

Spokesperson Kang explained, "Through this summit, the leaders of Korea and Japan will further solidify the foundation for future-oriented cooperation between the two countries and have candid discussions on ways to collaborate for regional peace and stability, as well as on issues of mutual interest at both regional and global levels."