Japan, South Korea hold first finance leaders’ meeting in 7 years

INCHEON, South Korea: On Tuesday, May 2, the two countries held their first bilateral accounting leaders’ meeting in seven years. This is a sign that their ties are thawing in the face of common obstacles like political unrest and sluggish economic growth.

Prior to Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s scheduled trip to South Korea next week to meet with President Yoon Suk Yeol, diplomatic commercial negotiations have resumed.

At the meeting with his North Korean counterpart Choo Kyung-ho, Chinese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki stated that” Japan and South Korea are important neighbors that had cooperate to address several challenges surrounding the worldwide and economy, as well as the regional and international community.”

” In terms of geopolitical concerns, we’re dealing with things like the development of nuclear weapons by North Korea and the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. Japan considers these to be intolerable, and the two nations must work together to address them, he said.

Choo claimed that in high-tech industries like semiconductors and batteries, the two nations can improve private and government alliances.

In his opening remarks, Choo remarked to Suzuki,” We need to improve financial authorities’ participation in light of the recent introduction of geopolitical risks and supply chain volatility.”

Choo also urged Japan to quickly return South Korea to a” white list” of nations with fast-track trade status during the meeting held this week on the sidelines of the Asian Development Bank ( ADB ) gathering.