简体中文
By APD writer Alice
South Korean Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon is scheduled to visit Tokyo next week to attend the Japanese emperor's enthronement event in an apparent move to mend soured relations between the two neighbors over trade and shared history, sources said on October 13.
Lee will visit Japan from Oct. 22-24 for the ceremony. He is expected to attend two banquets hosted by Emperor Naruhito and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, and meet with key Japanese politicians and businessmen during his trip, his office announced in a statement.
The PM’s visit is widely seen as a move that may thaw relations between the two countries following a year of friction.
Seoul and Tokyo have been mired in a trade war after the South Korean Supreme Court ordered Japanese firms to compensate South Korean victims of forced labor during Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.
Japan launched export curbs against South Korea in early July in apparent protest at the Moon Jae-in government's handling of the historical dispute.
Seoul hit back with its own export control scheme and a filing to the World Trade Organization over Japan's export regulations.
If Lee meets his Japanese counterpart, Shinzo Abe, during the ceremony, it will mark the first high-level talks between the two countries since the row broke out.
Japanese media have reported that PM Abe is willing to have a brief one-on-one with his South Korean counterpart.
Both Lee and Abe attended the United Nations General Assembly in New York in late September but failed to hold talks.
The South Korean PM is known as a relatively pro-Japanese figure.
Lee, who speaks fluent Japanese, previously served as a Tokyo correspondent while working as a journalist. He is also known to have an extensive network among Japanese officials.
(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)
