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Abe says summit with Moon is being arranged

Posted December. 04, 2019 07:30,   

Updated December. 04, 2019 07:30

한국어

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Tuesday that he is arranging a meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, Kyodo news agency reported. This is the first time Abe mentioned a summit meeting between South Korea and Japan since South Korea conditionally suspended the termination of a military intelligence-sharing pact with Japan, known as the GSOMIA, on Oct. 22.

During a meeting with government officials and ruling Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers at the prime minister’s office in Tokyo on Tuesday, Abe said he is arranging separate meetings with President Moon and Chinese President Xi Jinping during his visit to Chengdu, China for this year’s trilateral summit between South Korea, China, and Japan slated for Dec. 23-25. “This year marks the 20th anniversary of cooperation among South Korea, China, and Japan,” said Abe, adding that he hopes to have candid talks about North Korea and the regional situation as well as ways to promote future-oriented cooperation among the three countries.

It will be the first South Korea-Japan bilateral summit in 15 months after Moon and Abe last had talks at the United Nations General Assembly in September 2018. The two leaders had an 11-minute discussion on the sidelines of the ASEAN+3 meeting in Bangkok, Thailand on Nov. 4. The key agendas of the upcoming summit are likely to include compensation for forced labor victims and Japan’s export restrictions on key semiconductor materials.

Director-level trade officials of South Korea and Japan are set to hold discussions in three years on Japan’s export controls on the third week of December in Tokyo. Japanese Trade Minister Hiroshi Kajiyama said on Tuesday that it is desirable for the two countries to examine the situation through proper dialogue.


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