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Prime Minister Fumio Kishida (left) of Japan and President Yoon Suk-yeol of South Korea stand for a photo during their summit held in San Francisco, CA, on Nov. 16, 2023. (Yonhap)

Japan’s prime minister called for stronger ties between South Korea, the US and Japan in a phone call with Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol on Wednesday.

“We are in agreement about continuing to strengthen ties between our two countries, as well as trilaterally with the US, and to maintain close communication as partners,” Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters at his residence in Tokyo on Wednesday evening, explaining the results of his telephone conference with Yoon.

Kishida used his phone call with Yoon to detail his summit with US President Joe Biden, which took place in Washington on April 11. The Japanese press reported that the telephone conference was held at Kishida’s request.

“Prime Minister Kishida briefed President Yoon about the outcome of his recent official visit to the United States of America. He shared, among other things, that the two countries reaffirmed to advance close trilateral coordination across many fields building on the Summit at Camp David in August last year and also had a discussion on the situation relating to North Korea at the Japan-US Summit Meeting,” Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement to the press.

“President Yoon appreciated the briefing, and the two leaders concurred on continuing to deepen coordination bilaterally and trilaterally among Japan, the ROK and the US. The two leaders affirmed that they would continue to communicate closely with one another, seizing various opportunities including those at international conferences throughout the year,” Japan’s Foreign Ministry said.

“Even though [Korea’s] ruling party suffered a major defeat in the general elections on April 10, Kishida would like to keep improving relations with Korea based on his personal relationship of trust with Yoon. One objective of the telephone conference is to highlight the two leaders’ cordial relations,” Japan’s Mainichi Shimbun daily newspaper said in an earlier article about plans to hold the telephone conference.

Japanese officials are watching closely to see how the sweeping victory of Korea’s main opposition Democratic Party in the general elections will impact Korea-Japan relations.

While the Japanese press reported that Yoon’s foreign policy toward Japan is “not expected to waver,” the opposition parties are likely to ramp up pressure on the administration when it comes to policy on Japan, including that regarding compensation for victims of forced labor mobilization. 

By Kim So-youn, Tokyo correspondent

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