Yoon-Kishida Enter Small-Group Talks After Welcome Ceremony (Update)

Review of the Honor Guard on the Lawn in Front of the Yongsan Presidential Office

President Yoon Suk-yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who visited Korea, are reviewing the honor guard at the official welcoming ceremony held at the Yongsan Presidential Office in Seoul on the 7th.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

President Yoon Suk-yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida have begun their summit meeting. About four hours after Prime Minister Kishida arrived at Seoul Airport in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province around noon on the 7th, he visited the National Cemetery in Dongjak-dong, Dongjak-gu, Seoul as his first schedule in Korea to pay respects, and then attended the official welcoming ceremony held on the lawn in front of the Presidential Office in Yongsan, Seoul.

After the welcoming ceremony, President Yoon and Prime Minister Kishida started a small-scale Korea-Japan summit meeting. The two leaders are scheduled to hold an expanded summit and a joint press conference following the small-scale meeting.

Prime Minister Kishida's visit to Korea is a one-night, two-day working visit. This meeting is a reciprocal visit following President Yoon's trip to Tokyo, Japan in March, marking the first face-to-face meeting between the two leaders in 52 days. The main agenda of the summit includes economic and security issues, but attention is also focused on whether the Japanese government will issue an apology or message of reflection regarding historical issues, and what kind of agreement the two countries will reach on the issue of the discharge of contaminated water from Fukushima.

On the economic front, cooperation on economic security such as semiconductor supply chains is expected to be discussed. Recently, Japan re-designated South Korea as a Group A country (formerly known as the White Country or Whitelist), which is subject to preferential export treatment. Since most factors including export regulations and trade conflicts between Japan and South Korea have been resolved, detailed discussions on cooperation areas are expected to intensify.

President Yoon Suk-yeol and First Lady Kim Keon-hee greet Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and his wife after the official welcoming ceremony held on the 7th at the Yongsan Presidential Office in Seoul, during their 2-day visit to Korea.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

In addition to advanced industries such as semiconductors and batteries, new industries including quantum, space, and bio, joint entry into the global order market, and future responses to issues such as low birthrate, aging population, and climate change are also mentioned as areas where mutual benefits can be created. Additional discussions may include increasing flights, expanding exchanges of future generations such as high school and international students to restore human exchanges between the two countries, and restoring and expanding dialogue channels at both private and government levels.

However, it is unlikely that a separate 'joint declaration' on sensitive issues will be made at this summit. A presidential office official explained, "There will be a joint press conference, but it is difficult to say that any declaration will come out of it," adding, "It is a matter to be decided through consultation and the actual summit meeting."

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