President Lee Jae-myung will visit Japan on the 13th and 14th for a two-day, one-night stay and hold a summit meeting with Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. It has been two and a half months since the first meeting held in Gyeongju during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit on October 30 last year. In an NHK interview broadcast on the 12th, President Lee said, “Korea and Japan share the same values and goals,” and added, “Since there are so many areas in which we can complement each other’s shortcomings and cooperate while competing, it would be good to find out more what we have in common.”
Japan’s Nara Prefecture, where the summit is held, is Prime Minister Takaichi’s hometown and constituency. Prime Minister Takaichi was elected here as an independent in the 1993 general election and served 10 terms. Following former Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s visit to Busan in September last year, Prime Minister Takaichi also visited Gyeongju, and President Lee is said to have personally suggested Nara Prefecture as the location for the next ‘shuttle diplomacy’.
In Japan, Prime Minister Takaichi’s invitation to President Lee to his hometown was evaluated as ‘exceptional omotenashi (extreme hospitality).’ Except for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s invitation to Russian President Vladimir Putin to his hometown Yamaguchi Prefecture in 2016, there have been no cases of bilateral talks being held in the hometown of a Japanese prime minister.
The Japanese media also gave Nara Prefecture the meaning of ‘Yukari nochi (land of ties)’ between Korea and Japan. There are many traces of the immigrants who came from Baekje to Japan 1,500 years ago and spread their culture. A representative example is Horyuji Temple, the world’s oldest wooden building, which the two leaders will visit on the 14th. President Lee said, “Nara Prefecture, like Gyeongju, is a thousand-year-old city,” and added, “Because the international order is a very complex and difficult situation, it is necessary in times like these to open our hearts to each other and join hands to find a helpful path.”
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The government’s position is that it will also seek future-oriented solutions to past history issues at this meeting. Attention is focused on whether the two governments will discuss joint excavation of remains at the Josei Coal Mine. A total of 183 people, including 136 Koreans who were forcibly mobilized at the time, died at the Josei Coal Mine, an undersea mine shaft where a flooding accident occurred in 1942. In an interview that day, President Lee said, “Let’s face the past, but cooperate where we need to cooperate, and join hands and move toward the future together. (This is) something I definitely want to say to the Japanese people.”
Regarding the conflict between China and Japan, which was amplified by Prime Minister Takaichi’s remarks about intervening in Taiwan in case of emergency, President Lee said that during his state visit to China earlier this month, he directly told Chinese President Xi Jinping, “For the Republic of Korea, the relationship with Japan is as important as China.” President Lee continued, “Each country has its own core interests or national existence that are very important,” and added, “It is clear that President Xi has a very negative view of Japan’s position.” He added, “For me, that is a problem between China and Japan, and not a problem in which we should be deeply involved or involved.”
President Lee also mentioned the possibility of discussing the resumption of imports of Japanese seafood. President Lee said, “As things stand, it is difficult in the short term because we need to resolve the issue of public sentiment and trust in the Republic of Korea,” but added, “It is an important agenda item to obtain cooperation for joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), so it is a topic that must be actively discussed.”