By KEISHI NISHIMURA/ Staff Writer
March 9, 2023 at 18:28 JST
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, left, and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol at the start of their summit in Phnom Penh in November 2022. (Provided by the Cabinet Public Affairs Office)
The leaders of Japan and South Korea will revive the short-lived tradition of making regular reciprocal visits to each other’s nation for the first time in 12 years, according to a government source.
At his March 9 news conference, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol will visit Tokyo on March 16-17 for talks with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, the latest sign that bilateral relations between the two countries are starting to rebound from their recent postwar low.
The two leaders are expected to formally agree to resume the reciprocal visits during their meeting.
A delegation of South Korean businessmen is expected to visit Japan at the same time for talks with their Japanese counterparts to discuss measures to promote youth exchanges between the two nations, possibly through a scholarship program for foreign students.
The top-level diplomatic exchanges began in 2004 between Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun under an agreement where the leaders would make these reciprocal trips once a year.
They continued for just under a decade, with the final one taking place in November 2012, when Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda met with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak.
In 2017, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and South Korean President Moon Jae-in agreed to resume the visits, but it never happened.
The latest agreement comes on the heels of the March 6 announcement in Seoul of a plan to resolve the long-simmering issue of compensation for Korean wartime laborers who had sued Japanese corporations.
The plan involves setting up a foundation to shoulder the compensation payments.
Tokyo announced it will continue to uphold past statements made by previous administrations on longstanding issues between the two nations.
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