President-elect Yoon: "Korea-Japan Must Build a Future-Oriented Cooperative Relationship" (Comprehensive)

Meeting with Koichi Aiboshi, Japanese Ambassador to Korea
North's Moratorium Violation "Trilateral Cooperation Among Korea, US, and Japan Needed"

President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol is meeting with Koichi Aiboshi, the Ambassador of Japan to Korea, in the reception room of the 20th Presidential Transition Committee set up at the Financial Supervisory Service Training Institute in Tongui-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, on the 28th. Photo by Transition Committee Press Corps

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo Byung-don] President-elect Yoon Seok-yeol met with Koichi Aiboshi, the Japanese Ambassador to Korea, on the 28th and emphasized that "South Korea and Japan are partners sharing various cooperative tasks such as security and economic prosperity."

President-elect Yoon met with Ambassador Koichi at around 10:30 a.m. at the Presidential Transition Committee office in Tongui-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul.

At the meeting, President-elect Yoon said, "To overcome the recent deadlock in Korea-Japan relations, it is necessary to build a future-oriented cooperative relationship based on a correct understanding of history," and urged, "Let us gather wisdom together."

He continued, emphasizing the need for closer trilateral cooperation among South Korea, the U.S., and Japan regarding North Korea's moratorium cancellation, saying, "It is necessary to ensure the conviction that North Korea can gain nothing from its nuclear weapons."

In response, Ambassador Aiboshi also said, "Since North Korea's nuclear missile provocations pose a serious threat to the security of both South Korea and Japan, as well as a grave challenge to the international community, I hope to continue close cooperation with Korea for the stability and prosperity of the East Asian region."

Regarding Korea-Japan relations, President-elect Yoon said, "There are still differences of opinion and seemingly difficult issues between South Korea and Japan, but if the political leaders, officials, and citizens of both countries strongly push Korea-Japan relations forward in a future-oriented manner, I believe these can be well resolved through dialogue."

He added, "Korea-Japan relations must be improved, and good relations like in the past must be urgently restored," and said, "Both countries will likely need to make significant efforts."

The meeting was originally scheduled for the 17th but was postponed due to Ambassador Koichi testing positive for COVID-19.

Earlier, on the 11th, President-elect Yoon reached a consensus on improving Korea-Japan relations and cooperating on North Korea's nuclear issue during a phone call with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.