Tokyo, Aug 24 South Korean President Lee Jae Myung met former Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and other lawmakers in Tokyo on Sunday to discuss ways to advance bilateral relations, the presidential office said.
Lee held talks with Suga and other members of the Japan-South Korea Parliamentarians’ Association and briefed them on his Saturday summit with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, presidential spokesperson Kang Yu-jung said in a written briefing, Yonhap News Agency reported.
The Japanese lawmakers welcomed Lee’s pick of Japan as his first destination for a bilateral summit since taking office in June and positively evaluated his meeting with Ishiba, vowing to work together for “future-oriented” ties, according to Kang.
Lee also met separately a delegation led by Yoshihiko Noda, leader of the Constitutional Democratic Party, and discussed ways to further develop bilateral relations through active parliamentary exchanges, she added.
On Saturday, the South Korean President urged Japanese Prime Minister Ishiba to forge closer cooperation to cope with a vortex of changes in global trade and the security order, in their first full summit before Lee is set to hold a high-stakes summit with US President Donald Trump.
Calling Japan a “neighbour that shares a front yard”, Lee expressed hope for the two countries to work together to expand cooperation in a wide range of areas, while working to minimise unnecessary conflicts.
“As the international order in trade and security is fluctuating, I believe the Republic of Korea and Japan, which share similar positions in terms of values, order and ideology, must strengthen their cooperation more than ever,” Lee said in his opening remarks, referring to South Korea by its official name.
Ishiba echoed the sentiment, underlining the importance of the closer bilateral ties and trilateral cooperation with the US.
“Strengthening cooperation among Japan, South Korea, and the United States is very important,” Ishiba said. “Peace and stability will not come unless we make active efforts, and this is all the more true in such a turbulent era.”
Ishiba also thanked Lee for choosing Japan as his first bilateral destination before visiting the US.
The Saturday summit with Ishiba comes before Lee will head for Washington for summit talks with Trump, in a rare diplomatic decision for South Korean Presidents, who typically choose Washington, a key defence ally, as their first diplomatic destination after taking office.
It was Lee’s second in-person meeting with Ishiba, following their encounter on the sidelines of the Group of Seven summit in Canada in June, which Lee described as marking the resumption of “shuttle diplomacy” between the two nations’ leaders.
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