National Security Office Director Cho Tae-yong met with Japanese National Security Agency Director Takeo Akiba on the 3rd to discuss preparations for Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s visit to Korea.
The Office of the President announced that in the afternoon, Cho had a meeting with Director Akiba, who had visited Korea for one night and two days.
It has been about 9 years and 7 months since the meeting between former director Shotaro Yachi and former chief of the Blue House security office Kim Kwan-jin in October 2014 that the head of the National Security Council of Japan visited Korea and held an official meeting with the head of the National Security Office of Korea.
According to the Office of the President, Cho and Akiba inspected the preparations for Prime Minister Kishida’s visit to Korea scheduled for the 7th and 8th.
At the meeting, the two sides agreed to materialize cooperation in all fields, including security, economy, society and culture, and people-to-people exchanges, for the development of future-oriented Korea-Japan relations.
In addition, South Korea and Japan formed a consensus that North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats pose a threat to the international community. At the same time, South Korea, Japan, and the US and Japan agreed to cooperate more closely in the process of responding to North Korea, such as implementing sanctions and implementing UN Security Council resolutions. The two sides also agreed to cooperate on issues related to human rights in North Korea.
The two countries also agreed to cooperate in the process of implementing the Indo-Pacific Strategy and the Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP) Strategy, respectively, by Korea and Japan. Regarding the G7 summit in Hiroshima in May, to which President Yoon Seok-yeol was invited, the two sides agreed to continue their efforts to successfully hold the meeting.
On this day, Korea and Japan launched the Economic Security Dialogue, which was agreed to be established when President Yoon visited Japan in March.
At the inauguration meeting, Director Cho and Director Akiba exchanged opinions on the topics of supply chain stability and resilience improvement, core and emerging technologies, climate change response and energy security. The two countries agreed to strengthen cooperation in the field of economic security in the direction of creating common interests.
Meanwhile, Director Akiba expressed appreciation for the Korean side’s support for the Japanese during the withdrawal from Sudan. In the process of rescuing Koreans residing in Sudan where an armed conflict occurred, the South Korean government transported local Japanese along with them.
After the meeting, President Yoon met Director Akiba and exchanged views on improving Korea-Japan relations.
President Yoon asked Director Akiba to play a large role, saying, “I think friendship and cooperation between Korea and Japan will gradually expand as shuttle diplomacy continues.”
Akiba said that he highly appreciated President Yoon’s courageous decision, noting that he had led the improvement of Korea-Japan relations. At the same time, he conveyed a message from Prime Minister Kishida, saying, “I decided to visit this time with a feeling of reciprocation, albeit a little.”
Director Akiba said, “The Japanese side also hopes to expand cooperation between Korea and Japan in various fields,” adding, “We will make efforts to make Prime Minister Kishida’s visit to Korea a success.”
Source: Donga
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