Japan PM Kishida to visit South Korea, meet Yoon on Sunday

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol (left) and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida shake hands ahead of their bilateral meeting at the prime minister's office in Tokyo, March 16, 2023. (PHOTO / AP)

TOKYO  – Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will visit South Korea on May 7-8 for talks with President Yoon Suk Yeol, the governments of the two nations said on Tuesday.

The visit would come ahead of the Group of Seven (G7) leaders summit in Hiroshima this month and follows a meeting between the two leaders in Tokyo in March

Kishida will meet Yoon in Seoul on Sunday, Japan's foreign ministry said. Kishida's wife, Yuko, will also make the trip, according to South Korea's presidential office.

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Earlier, Kishida told reporters in Ghana, during his Africa tour, that the visit to Seoul would be an opportunity for a "frank exchange on the acceleration of ties" between the two countries.

The visit would come ahead of the Group of Seven (G7) leaders summit in Hiroshima this month and follows a meeting between the two leaders in Tokyo in March. The two sides agreed to revive shuttle diplomacy during Yoon's visit, the first to Japan by a South Korean president in 12 years.

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On Tuesday, their finance ministers held their first bilateral talks in seven years on the sidelines of the Asian Development Bank meeting in Incheon as they confront shared challenges also from slowing economic growth.