
President Lee Jae Myung (R) shakes hands with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba during their talks held on the sidelines of the Group of Seven summit in Kananaskis, Canada, on June 17, 2025. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
TOKYO/SEOUL, June 19 (Korea Bizwire) — Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said Thursday he had a good discussion with President Lee Jae Myung during their first summit in Canada earlier this week, noting that they “aligned on views” on shared issues.
Ishiba made the remark at an event in Tokyo held to celebrate the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations with South Korea, referring to his one-on-one talks with Lee that took place on the margins of the Group of Seven summit in Kananaskis on Tuesday.
“We were able to have a very productive discussion, aligning our views for the stable development of Japan-Korea relations,” Ishiba said of his summit with Lee, during the ceremony hosted by the South Korean Embassy in Tokyo.
“While there have been various phases in the relationship, there has always been extensive exchange between the two countries,” he said.
“Japan and South Korea face many common challenges and share numerous areas where we can and should cooperate through exchanges of our insights,” Ishiba said.
Ishiba’s attendance at the ceremony reflected the continued warming of bilateral relations that have significantly improved since March 2023 under South Korea’s previous government.
Lee, who assumed office June 4, has signaled a shift from his previously more hard-line stance on Japan, and pledged to pursue a two-track approach in which past history issues, rooted in Japan’s 1910-45 colonial rule of Korea, should be dealt with separately from future cooperation efforts.
Lee and Ishiba reaffirmed their commitment to advancing the bilateral partnership with a forward-looking approach during their summit.
At the event, Ishiba stressed the need to continue close communication to ensure a stable development of ties based on what the two countries have built so far.
“This year provides us an opportunity to think about our next 60 years. I see a bright future ahead of us through natural exchanges among our younger generations,” Ishiba said.
At the summit, Lee called Japan an “inseparable” nation that “shares the same front yard” with South Korea, expressing hope the two neighbors can advance their ties in a future-oriented manner.
The two leaders also agreed to bolster three-way cooperation partnership with the United States to respond to various geopolitical challenges, including North Korea’s evolving nuclear and missile threats.
Thursday’s event brought together key government officials, lawmakers and other guests from both sides, including South Korean Ambassador to Japan Park Cheol-hee and Democratic Party Rep. Joo Ho-young leading the Korea-Japan Parliamentarians’ Union.
In a congratulatory speech, Park described the past six decades of the Seoul-Tokyo ties as a “history of growth, achievement and success,” calling for efforts to further advance the relationship and make it “more sustainable,” the foreign ministry in Seoul said in a press release.
Among the top Japanese officials attending the event were Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya, Defense Minister Gen Nakatani, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi and Fukushiro Nukaga, speaker of Japan’s lower chamber of parliament.
Former Japanese Prime Ministers Fumio Kishida and Yoshihide Suga were also among those present.
The celebration in Tokyo follows a mutual event held in Seoul earlier this week by the Japanese Embassy in Seoul.
Ahead of his trip to Canada, Lee delivered a video message for the anniversary event in Seoul, in which he called for Seoul and Tokyo to work together for a better future.
On June 22, 1965, South Korea and Japan signed a bilateral treaty to normalize their diplomatic relations.
(Yonhap)