Jin Park "Coordinating Japan Visit Schedule, Visiting at a Convenient Time for Japan"

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo In-ho] Foreign Minister Park Jin stated on the 11th regarding Korea-Japan relations, "In order to seek reasonable solutions to the issues between the two countries, we will continue to make related efforts such as visiting Japan at mutually convenient times."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

At a regular press conference for Korean media on the same day, Minister Park said, "We want to build a future cooperative relationship that aligns with our common interests and values while facing the past with Japan."

Regarding the plan to visit Japan, Minister Park explained, "The visit to Japan is not confirmed yet, but we were in the process of coordinating the schedule. However, the shocking incident of former Prime Minister Abe's shooting and death occurred," adding, "We plan to continue coordinating the visit schedule with the Japanese side."

This implied that the sudden death of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on the 8th might affect the previously coordinated visit schedule.

He said, "Considering Japan's domestic situation, I hope to visit at a convenient time," and added, "If the visit to Japan takes place, we plan to discuss various pending issues between Korea and Japan and ways to restore trust."

Regarding Abe's death, he said, "Once Japan's official mourning schedule is confirmed, we plan to dispatch a high-level government delegation," and "We will form a condolence delegation with the utmost respect."

When asked whether the swift promotion of constitutional revision following the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's landslide victory in the Japanese House of Councillors election would make it difficult to improve Korea-Japan relations, he replied, "We will closely monitor Japan's domestic political situation and continue efforts to improve Korea-Japan relations."

He added, "It is not appropriate for me to comment on Japan's domestic political issues, but I think we need to carefully observe the direction Japan will take in the future."

Regarding the 2018 Supreme Court ruling that triggered the issue of forced labor victims during Japanese colonial rule, Minister Park said, "Our government respects the judiciary's decision for now," and explained, "However, to resolve this issue, we are operating a public-private consultative body to gather opinions from the parties involved and experts to seek the most desirable solution."

When asked whether the public-private consultative body could come up with a solution to the liquidation of Japanese wartime companies' domestic assets, he said, "Japan is currently most concerned about liquidation," and added, "We will try to find a desirable solution before liquidation occurs."

Regarding the request from victim representatives participating in the public-private consultative body for Korea to exercise diplomatic protection rights to negotiate between Japanese wartime companies and victims, Minister Park avoided a direct answer, saying, "Nothing has been decided yet about what the solution will include."

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