Japanese Media: "Takaichi Coordinating South Korea-Japan Summit in Andong on the 19th"

Return Visit to President Lee's Hometown

Anticipated as Part of Shuttle Diplomacy

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is reportedly coordinating plans to hold a South Korea-Japan summit in Andong, North Gyeongsang Province, this month as part of "shuttle diplomacy," according to Japanese media reports on May 9.

President Lee Jae-myung and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi took a commemorative photo at Horyu-ji Temple, a representative cultural heritage site in Nara Prefecture, Japan, on January 14. Photo by Yonhap News

Local outlets, including Kyodo News, reported that Prime Minister Takaichi is expected to visit South Korea for two days starting May 19 to meet with President Lee Jaemyung. The summit is anticipated to address economic security cooperation, including measures to stabilize energy supplies amid instability in the Middle East and strengthening critical mineral supply chains. The reports indicated that Andong, President Lee’s hometown, is the leading candidate to host the summit.

This upcoming visit will be the first summit following President Lee’s trip to Nara Prefecture, Prime Minister Takaichi’s hometown, in January for talks between the two leaders.

The two leaders first met in person on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Gyeongju last October, where they pledged to actively implement shuttle diplomacy.

The summit is expected to focus on ways for both countries to cooperate in securing crude oil, petroleum, and related materials, given their shared reliance on the Middle East for a significant portion of oil imports. Additionally, economic security cooperation on critical minerals—especially in light of China’s export restrictions on rare earths to Japan and the resulting heightened sense of crisis—is expected to be discussed.

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