South Korean president likely to visit Japan during Olympics

The Yomiuri Shimbun

15:58 JST, June 15, 2021

Japan and South Korea are making arrangements for South Korean President Moon Jae-in to visit Japan in time for the Tokyo Olympics, which will open on July 23, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned.

The South Korean side approached Japan with the proposal, and Japan is likely to accept.

At the time of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics held in South Korea in February 2018, then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited South Korea to attend the opening ceremony and meet with President Moon.

South Korea has conveyed through diplomatic channels Moon’s desire to visit Japan as an expression of thanks for Abe’s visit, sources said.

Seoul hopes to hold the first in-person meeting between Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and Moon during his visit to Japan, according to the sources. However, the Japanese government is cautious about holding the meeting without any prospect that South Korea will offer solutions to the issues of so-called comfort women and the lawsuits filed by former requisitioned workers from the Korean Peninsula, which have caused bilateral relations to deteriorate.

At the G7 summit held from Friday to Sunday in Cornwall, England, the two leaders did not hold a formal meeting, but only exchanged greetings.