Yoon voices hope for deeper S. Korea-Japan friendship

National Security Office Director Cho Tae-yong shakes hands with Japanese national security adviser Takeo Akiba in Seoul's Yongsan presidential office on Wednesday prior to the meeting between the security directors of South Korea and Japan. (Yonhap)

President Yoon Suk Yeol voiced hope Wednesday for deeper friendship and cooperation between South Korea and Japan as he prepares to hold a summit with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida this weekend, his office said.

Yoon conveyed the wish during a meeting with Takeo Akiba, secretary general of Japan's National Security Secretariat, at his office, days before Kishida arrives in Seoul for a summit with Yoon on Sunday.

"The president stressed that South Korea and Japan, as partners pursuing common interests based on common values, must join forces and respond to the global polycrisis," presidential spokesperson Lee Do-woon said.

Yoon noted the recent improvement in South Korea-Japan relations and the need to support exchanges between the two countries' youths in preparation for the future.

"The president said he believes the friendship and cooperation between South Korea and Japan will gradually expand amid a continuation of South Korea-Japan shuttle diplomacy," Lee said.

Kishida's two-day visit to Seoul will mark the resumption of shuttle diplomacy, or regular visits to each other's countries, by the two countries' leaders as it follows Yoon's visit to Tokyo in March.

Yoon's March visit came after his administration's decision to compensate Korean victims of Japan's wartime forced labor without contributions from Japanese firms.

He was the first South Korean president to pay a bilateral visit to Japan in 12 years as the bilateral relationship frayed badly over the forced labor issue and other historical disputes stemming from Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.

Lee said Akiba thanked the South Korean government for helping transport Japanese nationals out of war-torn Sudan during its recent evacuation operation.

Akiba also conveyed Kishida's message that he highly assesses Yoon's "courageous decision" to pursue an improvement in bilateral ties, and decided to reciprocate Yoon's visit "to return (the sentiment) at least a little."

The Japanese official held a separate meeting with National Security Adviser Cho Tae-yong and the two sides discussed preparations for Kishida's upcoming visit, according to the presidential office.

In particular, the two agreed on the growing threat posed by North Korea's nuclear and missile programs and on the need for South Korea and Japan, and for South Korea, Japan and the United States, to work more closely together to thoroughly implement sanctions and U.N. Security Council resolutions against the North.

The two sides also held the inaugural session of an economic security dialogue Yoon and Kishida agreed to launch during their March summit, and exchanged views on enhancing supply chain resiliency, emerging technologies, the response to climate change and energy security.

hague@yna.co.kr

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