Japan to host summit with South Korea to bolster ties as Tokyo's relations with Beijing worsen

Takaichi on Monday returned to the area for the first time since taking office and posted a message on X: "I hope to further push forward Japan's relations with South Korea in the forward-looking way as we meet in the ancient capital of Nara with more than 1,300 years of history and longstanding cultural exchanges between Japan and the Korean Peninsula." Lee, in an interview with Japan’s NHK television Monday, said security is an important area where South Korea wants to cooperate with Japan, under the fundamental trilateral framework that includes the U.S., but “what’s really important is the issue of deep mutual trust.” While the two leaders are expected to stay away from the historical disputes, media reports say they may discuss possible humanitarian cooperation in the ongoing effort to recover the remains at a former undersea mining site in western Japan where 180 workers, including 136 Korean forced laborers, were killed in a 1942 accident.