Prime Minister Kishida to visit South Korea next month... South Korean Presidential Office ”intends to meet at any time”

In response to reports that Prime Minister Kishida may visit South Korea early next month, the South Korean presidential office hinted at the possibility of a Japan-South Korea summit meeting.
On the 20th, a presidential office official commented on the rumors of Prime Minister Kishida's visit to South Korea, "Prime Minister Kishida's own initiative
The Japanese side had expressed its intention to visit Korea even before President Yoon decided not to run for the Democratic Party presidential election, and there were related discussions after the announcement, but nothing has been decided yet."
"I am willing to meet with Prime Minister Kishida at any time as a next-former in shuttle diplomacy, and if any decisions are made, I will make them public," he said.
It was reported that Prime Minister Kishida will visit South Korea early next month to discuss security cooperation with President Yoon. Sources said that with the 60th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between Japan and South Korea approaching, the issue of restraining North Korea's nuclear program and strengthening cooperation among the three countries of Japan, the United States and South Korea is particularly important.
However, Kyodo News recently reported that Japan must properly disclose the facts about Korean forced labor at the Sado mines in the process of registering the mines as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
"The Korean government may take a negative view of Prime Minister Kishida's visit to Korea due to criticism from within South Korea that he did not visit the country. President Yoon and Prime Minister Kishida have been trying to revive the Japan-Korea relationship, which had become rigid under the previous administration, in a friendly manner," he said.
The Camp David summit last year, which institutionalized Japan-US-ROK cooperation in areas such as national defense, diplomacy, and industry, is a prime example of this.
Prime Minister Kishida, who announced last week that he would not continue as president of the Liberal Democratic Party and prime minister, cited the improvement of Japan-Korea relations as his most notable achievement, saying, "Next year marks the 60th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between Japan and Korea.
"Regardless of whether there is a change in the Japanese prime minister or not, the relationship between Prime Minister Kishida and the South Korean president will continue to be normalized," a South Korean presidential office official told reporters last week.
"I am confident that the cooperation that the two countries have achieved together, as well as the close cooperation between Japan, the United States and the ROK, will continue unwavering in the future."