Prospects of Japanese PM’s visit to S. Korea undecided: Seoul official

SEOUL, Aug. 20 (Yonhap) — Prospects of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s visit to South Korea remain undecided, a presidential official said Tuesday, following a media report of a potential bilateral summit with President Yoon Suk Yeol next month.

Japan’s Kyodo News earlier reported Kishida is considering holding summit talks with Yoon in South Korea early September before stepping down from office, citing diplomatic sources.

“The Japanese side has expressed an intention for Prime Minister Kishida to visit South Korea even before his decision not to run in (Japan’s) Liberal Democratic Party leadership race,” the official said. “There have been relevant discussions even after the announcement, but nothing has been decided yet.”

The official said Yoon is open to meeting Kishida anytime, as part of the so-called “shuttle diplomacy” between the two countries’ leaders.

Bilateral relations between Seoul and Tokyo have significantly warmed since South Korea decided in March last year to resolve the issue of compensating Korean forced labor victims during Japan’s 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula without asking for contributions from Japanese companies.

The move came as Yoon and Kishida have prioritized bolstering trilateral security cooperation between the Asian neighbors and their shared ally, the United States, amid growing security threats posed by North Korea.