Japan Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to visit South Korea for summit with President Yoon Suk Yeol, sources say
The two neighbors are meeting to discuss North Korea ahead of the Hiroshima G-7 summit.
Officials said that the Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will visit South Korea and meet President Yoon Suk Yeol in the coming weeks. This visit is a reciprocal visit to Tokyo by South Korea's leader last month.
An official of the Japanese government and an official of a Group of Seven country said that the meeting would take place before Kishida hosts his G-7 summit on May 19.
The Kyodo News Agency in Japan reported on Saturday that the two countries will meet between May 7 and 8, citing unnamed diplomatic sources from Japan and South Korea.
Kyodo reported that the goal of their meeting will be to confirm the strengthening of cooperation between the two neighboring countries in relation to North Korea, ahead of the Hiroshima G-7 Summit.
Kishida, when asked about the reports of a bilateral summit broadcast by NHK, said that nothing concrete had yet been decided.
The answering machine of Japan's Foreign Ministry on Saturday indicated that no one would be available during the weekend.
In recent months, the strained ties between Japan and South Korea have improved, despite North Korea's missile launches and China taking a more assertive role in the world.