Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung met in Japan on Tuesday as the two East Asian neighbours look to bolster security and economic cooperation.
The two leaders are widely expected to discuss denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula, the fate of Japanese nationals abducted by North Korea, and cooperation in areas such as artificial intelligence and semiconductors.
“We would like to make this a year in which Japan–South Korea relations are taken to even greater heights,” Takaichi told Lee at the start of their summit.
The meeting in Nara, Takaichi’s home prefecture, comes a week after Lee met Chinese President Xi Jinping. Tokyo and Beijing remain locked in a diplomatic dispute following remarks by Takaichi that Japan could deploy its forces if a Chinese attack on Taiwan posed an existential threat.
China regards Taiwan as part of its territory, a claim the self-governing island rejects.
Lee, who will spend two days in Japan, said earlier that while the diplomatic stand-off was not desirable for regional peace, he would not intervene in the dispute.
“In the current complex and dizzying international order, cooperation between South Korea and Japan is more important than ever,” he told Takaichi.
Takaichi and Lee will deliver a joint statement after their summit.
Lee is seeking to balance ties with China and Japan, which could make it easier to reach pacts in business fields such as artificial intelligence (AI).
Lee said the conflict between China and Japan was not desirable for regional peace, but Seoul would not meddle in the ongoing row.
“It’s clear that Chinese President Xi Jinping has a very negative view of Japan‘s position on the matter of Taiwan,” Lee said during an interview with Japanese broadcaster NHK. “I think it’s a matter between China and Japan, not something we should deeply involve ourselves in or interfere with.”
(with inputs from Reuters)
