Chey Tae-won, chairman of South Korea’s SK Group, delivers a speech at an annual seminar hosted by the Chey Institute for Advanced Studies at a resort in Virginia on Dec. 5, 2022. (Yonhap)
WASHINGTON, Dec. 5 (Korea Bizwire) — SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won stressed Monday that South Korea and Japan should focus on the future of their relations despite disputes over shared history.
“We know that there are some problems in the South Korea-Japan relations,” Chey, who leads the South Korean conglomerate, said at an annual seminar hosted by the Chey Institute for Advanced Studies at a resort in Virginia.
“People (of both countries) need to focus on the future.”
The institute was established in 2018 in honor of the late Chey Jong-hyon, former group chairman and the father of the current leader.
He pointed out the neighboring countries have “many agendas for future cooperation,” adding related discussions would be beneficial for the neighbors as well as the three-way relations between Seoul, Washington and Tokyo.
Under the Yoon Suk-yeol administration, Seoul has stepped up efforts to repair ties with Tokyo, badly frayed over wartime forced labor and other issues related to Japan’s 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.
In summit talks held in Cambodia last month, the leaders of the neighboring countries agreed to work together to strengthen trilateral security cooperation with the U.S. and continue discussions for swift resolution of pending bilateral issues.
(Yonhap)
