Yoon may be invited to the G7 summit in Hiroshima

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Yoon may be invited to the G7 summit in Hiroshima

Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, left, and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida shake hands during their summit at the prime minister's residence in Tokyo Thursday. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, left, and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida shake hands during their summit at the prime minister's residence in Tokyo Thursday. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

 
Japan is finalizing preparations to invite Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol to the Group of Seven, or G7, summit in Hiroshima in May, according to Japanese media reports.  
 
The reports come after Yoon made a two-day visit to Tokyo for a summit with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida Thursday, the first bilateral visit by a Korean leader in 12 years, signaling a thaw in relations frayed by historical disputes and a trade spat.  
 
Japan's Yomiuri Shimbun, citing several government officials, reported Sunday that the Japanese government is working on the final details on an invitation for Yoon after the Korean government presented a solution to the forced labor compensation issue.    
 
It reported that the G7 summit will include a meeting for invited countries in addition to the member countries. Japan as the host country can invite other countries to the gathering.  
 
Kishida also reportedly plans to invite Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the G7 summit during his four-day visit to India from Sunday. Other invitees could include Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Indonesian President Joko Widodo.
 
Kyodo News also reported on Friday that Kishida conveyed his intention to invite Yoon to the G7 summit during their summit held in Tokyo on Thursday.
 
Yoon returned from his first trip to Japan Friday evening, a trip which came after Seoul announced on March 6 that a Korea-backed public foundation will compensate victims of forced labor during Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule. Some Korean victims and civic groups have protested this plan as it doesn't include an apology or compensation from the liable Japanese companies.  
 
Yoon focused on a "future-oriented" and reconciliatory message in his summit with Kishida, where the two leaders agreed to strengthen security cooperation and economic ties.  
 
During the summit, Yoon announced the "complete normalization" of the General Security of Military Information Agreement (Gsomia), Seoul and Tokyo's military intelligence-sharing pact, which he said will help the two countries exchange information about North Korean nuclear weapon and missile launches.
 
Japan also lifted restrictions on exports of three key materials to Korea that are essential for semiconductor and display production imposed since July 2019.
 
In 2018, Korea's Supreme Court ordered two Japanese companies — Nippon Steel and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries — to individually compensate Korean victims of forced labor during World War II.  
 
In July 2019, Japan imposed trade restrictions on the three materials essential to the production of high-quality semiconductors and displays, two major Korean export goods.  
 
In response, Seoul nearly terminated Gsomia, established in 2016 and renewed annually, and in the process technically left open the possibility that the pact could be scrapped at any time.  
 
During a press conference with Kishida on Thursday, Yoon stressed the importance of normalizing relations between the two countries, especially at a time when North Korean military activity has been intensifying and the geopolitical situation in the region has become volatile.  
 
"Korea's national interest is not a zero-sum relationship with Japan's national interest," Yoon said.  
 
During the press conference, Kishida said that he upholds historical perceptions of past Japanese governments, including the historic joint declaration in 1998 of Korean President Kim Dae-jung and Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi, but stopped short of repeating an apology for Japan's colonial rule over Korea.  
 
Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, left, and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida answer questions in a joint press conference in Tokyo on Thursday. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, left, and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida answer questions in a joint press conference in Tokyo on Thursday. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

Yoon and Kishida held a 90-minute summit ahead of the press conference. Later Thursday, the two leaders and their wives, Korean first lady, Kim Keon-hee, and Japanese first lady, Yuko Kishida, had dinner at a sukiyaki restaurant in Ginza and shared drinks one-on-one in a nearby Western-style restaurant famous for its omurice, an omelet rice dish that Yoon enjoys.  
 
On Friday, Yoon attended the Korea-Japan business roundtable organized by the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI) and the Japan Business Federation (Keidanren), after the two countries' business lobbies announced the creation of funds for youths the previous day.  
 
Yoon was the first Korean president to attend a business roundtable between the two countries in 14 years. The roundtable was attended by business leaders of both countries.  
 
Yoon also met with the Japan-Korea Parliamentarians' Union and the Korea-Japan Cooperation Committee. He later gave a speech emphasizing the future generation to some 170 students at Keio University in Tokyo.  
 
In late April, Yoon is expected to make a state visit to the United State for a summit with U.S. President Joe Biden, an opportunity to discuss regional issues, including trilateral cooperation with Japan to better respond to North Korean nuclear and missile threats.  
 
Yoon could be reunited with both Biden and Kishida during the G7 summit the following month, though the presidential office has yet to confirm the Japanese reports. It could be an occasion for another trilateral summit between Yoon, Biden and Kishida who last met alongside Asean meetings in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, last November.  
 
The White House immediately "welcomed" the improving relations between Seoul and Tokyo and the "truly historic announcement marking a new chapter of cooperation and partnership between them."
 
John Kirby, the U.S. National Security Council (NSC) coordinator for strategic communications, said in a briefing Thursday that the United States will continue to support Korea and Japan "as they take steps to translate this new understanding into enduring progress."
 
He then stressed that trilateral partnership "is key to upholding and advancing our shared vision for a safer more secure and more prosperous Indo-Pacific."
 
This comes ahead of a closely-watched visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to Moscow for a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow this week, his first trip to Russia since the Ukrainian invasion more than a year ago.
 
Biden has urged for stronger cooperation with NATO in Europe as well as its allies in the Indo-Pacific region such as Japan, South Korea and Australia, seen as a push to better contain China.  
 
Members of the Democratic Party, including leader Lee Jae-myeong, and activists hold a rally near Seoul Plaza in central Seoul Saturday protesting the “humiliating diplomacy” with Japan. [NEWS1]

Members of the Democratic Party, including leader Lee Jae-myeong, and activists hold a rally near Seoul Plaza in central Seoul Saturday protesting the “humiliating diplomacy” with Japan. [NEWS1]

The Korea-Japan summit drew mixed reactions domestically, and the liberal Democratic Party (DP) protested the visit as being "empty-handed" and being "a historically embarrassing moment" for failing to heed to the views of the Korean forced labor victims.
 
The DP, including chief Lee Jae-myung, and civic groups took part in massive rallies Saturday protesting the Korea-Japan summit as a "shameful diplomacy" in central Seoul on Saturday.
 
While Seoul and Tokyo made progress in normalizing relations and reviving shuttle diplomacy between the two leaders defunct since late 2011, they still have remaining issues to overcome including the Japanese military's wartime sexual slavery issue and a territorial dispute.  
 
Japanese media reported that Kishida requested during the summit Korea's faithful implementation of the 2015 agreement aimed at resolving the Japanese military's wartime sexual slavery during World War II, euphemistically referred to as comfort women.
 
Foreign Minister Park Jin told KBS Saturday that there had been no discussions on the comfort women agreement or the Dokdo islets during the summit.
 
On Sunday, Yoon's People Power Party, the government and the presidential office held a meeting to discuss follow-up measures to the Korea-Japan summit.  
 
"The first bilateral visit by a head of state in 12 years marks a turning point in improving bilateral relations, which have been at an all-time low," said Yoon's presidential office in a statement Saturday. "This visit to Japan will provide an opportunity to normalize Korea-Japan relations and develop future-oriented relations in all sectors."

BY LEE HO-JEONG, SARAH KIM [kim.sarah@joongang.co.kr]
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