South Korea's Yoon, Japan's Ishiba meet on sidelines of ASEAN gathering

South Korea's Yoon, Japan's Ishiba meet on sidelines of ASEAN gathering

By Hyonhee Shin

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba held their first summit on Thursday, as the neighbours seek to deepen security and economic ties.

The meeting, their first since Ishiba took office on Oct. 1, took place on the sidelines of a conference of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in the Laotian capital, Vientiane, Yoon's office said.

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Seoul is seeking to continue improving relations under Tokyo's new leadership, building on the progress engineered by Yoon and Ishiba's predecessor, Fumio Kishida.

"I hope that we will promote the development of Korea-Japan relations through active and close communication," Yoon told Ishiba, according to his office.

Ishiba said relations had greatly improved between the two countries under Kishida and Yoon, and that he would like to continue to develop relations further, according to Yoon's office.

Both promised to cement better relations in 2025, which will be the 60th anniversary of the two countries' normalising diplomatic relations.

In a phone call last week, Yoon and Ishiba agreed to forge a united response together with the United States to counter North Korea's threats.

Ishiba is a former defence minister and as prime minister he has pledged to foster deeper ties with friendly nations to fend off what he considers to be the gravest security threats his country has faced since World War Two.

Yoon has pushed to mend relations with Tokyo and ramp up trilateral security cooperation involving Washington as a top diplomatic priority, moving past years of historical animosity stemming from Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule.

Prodded in part by U.S. President Joe Biden, Yoon and Kishida oversaw a newfound partnership, an about-face after ties that had plummeted to their lowest level in decades before Yoon came to office.

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