Asahi reported on the same day, citing several Japanese government officials, that “the Japanese government is considering a plan for the first summit between Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and President Yun Seok-yeol at an international conference scheduled for the middle of this month.” “The issue of conscripts (Japanese expression of victims of forced labor), the biggest issue in both countries, has not yet been resolved, but considering the recent situation in North Korea, it is determined that South Korea-Japan relations need to be further improved,” he explained.
On the same day, North Korea fired 125 rounds of short-range ballistic missiles and multiple rocket launchers into the East Sea and West Sea. There is also the possibility of a seventh nuclear test before the US midterm elections on the 8th.
According to Asahi, Prime Minister Kishida will attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit in Phnom Penh, Cambodia on the 10th and 13th, the G20 Summit in Bali, Indonesia on the 15th and 16th, and the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) in Bangkok, Thailand on the 18th and 19th. Attend summit meetings one following another. President Yoon is also expected to attend all of these meetings. Asahi said that they are in the process of holding a summit in one of these countries.
President Yoon and Prime Minister Kishida met briefly over the phone and at international events, but did not hold a summit. On September 21, this year, in New York, USA, they had a 30-minute chat on the occasion of the UN General Assembly, but the Japanese government expressed it as a chat rather than a meeting.
The last Korea-Japan summit was the summit between President Moon Jae-in and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the time of the Korea-China-Japan summit held in Chengdu, China on December 24, 2019.
However, there is also a sense of opposition to the summit in some of the conservative camps in Japan. Asahi said, “Conservative opposition within the LDP is expected to hold a meeting before the issue of conscripts is finally resolved.” Therefore, he added that whether the meeting will be held is still flexible and there is a possibility that it will be in the form of an informal meeting rather than a meeting. Asahi analyzed, “The Yun Seok-yeol administration may experience some difficulties in coordinating the schedules of the two countries as they are busy responding to the Itaewon Halloween disaster.”
By Lee Eun-taek, staff reporter [email protected]
Recent Posts
Table of Contents
Tags
© 2024 All rights reserved