Korea-Japan Hold First Diplomatic Vice Minister Strategic Dialogue in 9 Years... "Seeking Strategic Cooperation"

Reactivation of Korea-Japan Communication Channel
Japanese Vice Minister Visits Foreign Minister Park Jin

South Korea and Japan held a diplomatic vice ministerial strategic dialogue in Seoul for the first time in nine years, seeking strategic cooperation.

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the 5th, Jang Ho-jin, First Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of South Korea, and Masataka Okano, Administrative Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of Japan, held the 14th Korea-Japan Vice Ministerial Strategic Dialogue at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs building in Jongno-gu that morning. After the approximately two-hour meeting, they continued discussions over lunch.

Im Soo-seok, spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stated at the regular briefing that “During President Yoon Suk-yeol’s visit to Japan last March, the two heads of state agreed to revitalize government-level consultative bodies,” and “In this strategic dialogue, resumed after nine years, in-depth discussions were held on a wide range of areas including bilateral relations and regional and global issues.”

The Korea-Japan Vice Ministerial Strategic Dialogue was initiated in 2005 with the purpose of broadening consultations beyond issue-centered talks to include regional and global issues from a mid- to long-term perspective. However, as Korea-Japan relations deteriorated, the dialogue was not held after the 13th meeting in October 2014. This meeting was resumed following the restoration of relations through a Korea-led solution to forced labor (Jingyong) issues in March this year, and the decision to reactivate several strategic communication channels.

The agenda of the meeting included trilateral cooperation among South Korea, the United States, and Japan, as well as cooperation among South Korea, China, and Japan. It is also known that the Korean Peninsula issue, a shared concern of both countries, was discussed. South Korea and Japan plan to continue restoring communication channels beyond this strategic dialogue. A Ministry of Foreign Affairs official said, “As there have been consultations between the Korean Financial Services Commission chairman and the Japanese Financial Services Agency commissioner, and including finance ministers’ meetings, meetings of the Ministry of National Defense and related ministries have been substantially restored, and it is expected that new consultations among relevant ministries and agencies within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will be promoted in the future.”

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