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President Lee Jae Myung of South Korea and Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi of Japan. (pool photo; EPA/Yonhap)

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung offered his congratulations to Sanae Takaichi, the newly inaugurated prime minister of Japan, on Tuesday, saying that he hopes to bolster “mutually beneficial future-oriented cooperation” between their two countries. 

“South Korea and Japan are neighbors who share a front yard, and have developed cooperation relations in a variety of areas, from politics to national security, economic, social culture, and people-to-people exchanges,” Lee said Tuesday.

“Around 12 million people from our countries engage in mutual visits every year, something that would have been difficult to imagine 60 years ago,” the president went on. 
 
“We now stand at a major crossroads that will determine the next 60 years of South Korea-Japan relations. It is a time of heightened uncertainty in the international order, and the importance of South Korea-Japan relations is greater than ever,” he added. 

“In this critical time, I hope to join the new prime minister to bolster mutually beneficial future-oriented cooperation between our two nations and our two peoples. In that respect, I hope that we can communicate often through shuttle diplomacy.” 

“I hope to meet the new prime minister at the APEC summit in Gyeongju and engage in constructive dialogue,” he said, referring to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum to be held in Korea next week. 

Lee will meet Takaichi officially for the first time on Sunday, during the ASEAN summit in Kuala Lumpur. He is then expected to hold a short summit with her in Gyeongju during the APEC summit.

By Um Ji-won, staff reporter

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]