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| President Yoon Suk-yeol poses with U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida during their trilateral meeting on the sidelines of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Summit in Madrid, Spain, June 29. Courtesy of the presidential office |
Yoon is expected to address IRA during summit talks with Biden
By Nam Hyun-woo
President Yoon Suk-yeol will hold a summit with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on the sidelines of the 77th United Nations General Assembly next week, the presidential office said Thursday.
Kim Tae-hyo, the first deputy director of the National Security Office, told reporters Yoon will hold a summit with Kishida during the Korean leader's attendance at the U.N. event from Sept. 20 to 21.
"Since many countries participate in the general assembly, and there are many other diplomatic events that are planned, the exact schedules of President Yoon's summits with foreign leaders are subject to change, but we have reached agreements in holding South Korea-U.S. and South Korea-Japan summits and are now arranging the times," Kim told reporters.
The Korea-Japan summit will be the first of its kind since December 2019, when Yoon's predecessor, Moon Jae-in, sat face to face with Kishida's predecessor, Shinzo Abe, in China. A summit between the two countries has not taken place since then because relations between Seoul and Tokyo have been at a low point after Japan launched tightened export controls on key industrial materials heading to South Korea in 2019.
After Yoon took office in May, the president has expressed his intention to improve Seoul-Tokyo relations, and Kishida, who took office in October of last year, also recognized the necessity of mending frayed bilateral ties.
The leaders first met in person during the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Summit in Spain in June. Although Yoon and Kishida exchanged their greetings on the sidelines of the event and had a trilateral meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden, a bilateral meeting did not take place, because Japan was bracing for upper house elections in July.
"South Korea and Japan willingly agreed on having a summit during the U.N. General Assembly," an official at the presidential office said. "However, the agenda of their meeting is not fixed."
The official added that there will be no need for Yoon and Kishida to discuss the matter of compensating South Korean victims of Japan's forced labor during World War II ― the issue that initially soured the two countries' relations beginning in 2018, because the two sides are already well aware of the progress of the debate.
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| Ruling People Power Party interim chief Chung Jin-suk delivers his speech during the 2022 Jeju Forum on Jeju Island, Thursday. Yonhap |
Japanese Ambassador to South Korea Koichi Aiboshi told reporters that the two countries' foreign ministries are "consulting each other" on the compensation issue, and he wishes for "a good outcome."
However, the ambassador took a cautious stance and said he is not certain whether the issue can be addressed, because multiple lawsuits are involved.
Ruling People Power Party (PPP) interim leader Chung Jin-suk, who also attended the forum, said he has already delivered Yoon's intention of improving Seoul-Tokyo ties during his visit to Japan in April, and added that he expects to hear "good news next week."
"Since then, flights between (South Korea's) Gimpo Airport and (Japan's) Haneda Airport resumed," Chung said. "In the near future, the number of tourists between the two countries will rapidly increase and visa-free travel between the two countries will be back on track soon."
The two countries initially offered visa waivers to each other's citizens, but suspended the program in March 2020, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
With hopes increasing over a thaw in frozen bilateral relations, Japan has yet to confirm the scheduled summit between Yoon and Kishida.
When asked about Seoul's announcement on the Yoon-Kishida summit, Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said during a press conference that the detailed schedule of the prime minister's New York visit was not fixed, according to Japanese media reports.
Meanwhile, Seoul's Deputy Director Kim said Yoon will have a summit with Biden on the sidelines of the U.N. event.
The presidential office said it has yet to decide the agenda for their talk, but Yoon is expected to bring up the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which is feared to harm South Korean carmakers by making electric vehicles (EVs) manufactured in the South ineligible for a tax credit in America.
Yoon will make a seven-day trip from Sept. 18 to 24 to visit the U.K., the U.S. and Canada. In the U.K., the president will attend the funeral of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II and a reception that will be held by King Charles III. After stopping by New York for the U.N. event, Yoon will visit Canada for a summit with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
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