TOKYO (Reuters) – Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is planning to visit South Korea on May 7 and 8 for talks with President Yoon Suk Yeol, Japan’s Kyodo news agency quoted the premier as telling reporters on Tuesday.
Kishida told reporters in Ghana, where he is currently on an official visit, that he is finalising plans for the visit with Yoon, Kyodo said, adding that it would be an opportunity for a “frank exchange on the acceleration of ties” between the two countries.
The visit would come ahead of the Group of Seven (G7) leaders summit in Hiroshima this month and follows a meeting between the two leaders in Tokyo in March.
The two sides agreed to revive shuttle diplomacy during Yoon’s visit, the first to Japan by a South Korean president in 12 years.
Ties between the U.S. allies, which have long been strained by disagreement over their shared wartime past, have improved in recent months in the face of North Korea’s frequent missile launches and China’s more muscular role on the global stage.
(Reporting by David Dolan; Editing by Chris Reese and Sonali Paul)
