Prime Minister Kishida Forced to Walk to Meeting with S. Korean President Yoon; Roads Apparently Closed for U.S. President Biden

By Chie Morifuji / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

14:41 JST, November 17, 2023

SAN FRANCISCO – Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who is currently attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco, had to resort to walking to a venue for a meeting with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on Thursday morning.

Kishida met with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at a hotel where he is staying, and then tried to travel by car to the meeting with Yoon. However, after the car was unable to move for about 20 minutes, local police officers and security police accompanying Kishida discussed the situation. As a result, Kishida and the Japanese government officials scheduled to attend the meeting got out their cars and hastily walked the roughly seven-minute journey to the hotel where Yoon was waiting.

At the beginning of the meeting, which began 18 minutes later than scheduled, Kishida said to Yoon, “I apologize for making you wait. I came here on foot.” One of the officials walking with Kishida said, “I heard the roads were closed to vehicles for U.S. President Joe Biden and his entourage. There was nothing we could do.”