Prime Minister Kishida meets with new Japanese ambassador to South Korea who will take up his post on the 17th - South Korean media

On the 15th, NHK reported that Japanese Prime Minister Kishida met with the new Japanese ambassador to South Korea, who will take up his post on the 17th of this month. According to the NHK report, Prime Minister Kishida met with the new ambassador to South Korea, Koichi Mizushima, in the afternoon of the same day.
He met with the current Japanese ambassador to South Korea, Koichi Aiboshi, for 20 minutes. It is interesting that the Japanese prime minister met with the ambassador to South Korea just before he takes up his post, given the current situation in which anti-Japanese sentiment is on the rise due to the controversy over the sale of shares in LINE Yahoo!.
"Prime Minister Kishida likely conveyed his interest and will to improve Japan-Korea relations to Ambassador Mizushima," said a source. "The LINE/Yahoo issue is causing a lot of backlash in Korea.
They are also expected to have discussed matters related to the upcoming Japan-China-South Korea summit to be held in Seoul on the 26th and 27th of this month.
At this tripartite summit, the three leaders discussed transparency and resilience of supply chains for food, resources, etc., with free trade as a fundamental premise.
The two sides are expected to hold discussions and issue a joint statement on the issues. The agenda is also expected to include matters such as the creation of a good business environment, protection of intellectual property rights, support for start-ups, and reform of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Meanwhile, the new Ambassador to South Korea, Mizushima, is a professional diplomat from Japan, who served as the general manager of the Embassy of Japan in South Korea. After serving as Director-General of the Consular Bureau of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he has served as the Ambassador to Israel since 2021.
He expressed his gratitude for the South Korean government's support for Japanese nationals returning to the country when transporting overseas Koreans after the militant group Hamas attacked Israel last year.