President Lee Jae Myung (R) shakes hands with former Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, chairman of the Japan-South Korea Parliamentarians’ Association, during their meeting at the presidential office in Seoul on July 30, 2025. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, July 30 (Korea Bizwire) — President Lee Jae Myung met Wednesday with former Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga to discuss ways to further develop bilateral relations between the two nations, the presidential office said.
Suga headed a delegation from the Japan-South Korea Parliamentarians’ Association, marking the highest-level Japanese political figure’s first visit to Seoul since Lee took office in early June.
“It is very encouraging that exchanges between the peoples of Korea and Japan have increased significantly and that mutual respect and favorability toward each other have greatly improved,” Lee said during the meeting at the presidential office.
He added that closer people-to-people exchanges could help improve relations between the two governments and their lawmakers, ultimately benefiting bilateral ties.
“As neighbors sharing the same backyard, I sincerely hope our two countries will continue to strengthen relations,” Lee said.
Suga echoed the view, pledging to work together to deepen ties between Seoul and Tokyo in a broad range of areas.
During the meeting, Lee and Suga discussed ways to resume “shuttle diplomacy,” or regular exchanges between leaders, as part of efforts to further advance the bilateral relations, presidential spokesperson Kang Yu-jung told reporters.
The meeting came as South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun was visiting Tokyo for talks with Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya on his first overseas trip since taking office last week.
Earlier in the day, Cho also met with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who reaffirmed his intent to maintain and further develop good relations with Seoul.
Lee later posted details of the meeting on social media.
The president wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, that he and Suga “assessed highly that South Korea-Japan relations are making stable progress as the two countries mark the 60th anniversary of diplomatic normalization,” and agreed to further strengthen ties through close communication across various sectors.
Lee also posted the message in Japanese alongside the Korean version.
(Yonhap)
