Japan PM Fumio Kishida makes first bilateral visit to S.Korea in 12 yrs

SEOUL: Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida arrived in South Korea on Sunday for a summit with President Yoon Suk Yeol, marking the full-scale resumption of "shuttle diplomacy" between the two countries' leaders after 12 years.

Kishida's visit comes as bilateral relations have warmed significantly following Seoul's decision in March to compensate Korean victims of Japanese wartime forced labour without contribution from Japanese firms, Yonhap news agency reported. Yoon travelled to Tokyo 10 days after the decision was announced and held a summit with the Japanese Prime Minister as the first South Korean President to pay a bilateral visit to Japan in 12 years.

Kishida's two-day visit is also the first bilateral visit by a Japanese leader in 12 years, marking the full-scale resumption of "shuttle diplomacy," or regular mutual visits, as agreed between Yoon and Kishida during their summit in Tokyo in March.

Upon arrival, the Japanese Prime Minister headed to Seoul National Cemetery and paid his respects to Korea's fallen independence fighters and war veterans. Kishida is accompanied by his wife, Yuko.

Yoon and Kishida agreed to allow a group of South Korean experts to visit Japan to inspect the planned release of radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant, both sides said. Yoon and Kishida announced the agreement during a joint press conference following a summit in Seoul, Yonhap news agency reported. "With regard to the contaminated water from Fukushima, we agreed on the dispatch of an on-site inspection team of South Korean experts," the South Korean President said during the press conference at the presidential office.

"I hope a meaningful step will be achieved in consideration of our people's demands for a science-based and objective inspection," Yoon added.

Kishida said the Japanese government's commitment to inheriting past administrations' positions on the two countries' shared history is "unwavering". He also added that his "heart aches" for the Korean people who suffered under Tokyo's 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula. IANS

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