South Korea President Plans First Visit to Japan in Four Years

(Bloomberg) -- South Korea’s leader will visit Japan for the first time since 2019, announcing a trip just days after the neighbors signaled a breakthrough to end a feud that had disrupted ties ranging from trade to security.

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President Yoon Suk Yeol plans to travel to Japan on March 16-17, his office said Thursday in a statement. He will meet Prime Minister Fumio Kishida for a trip that “marks a resumption of bilateral ties between Seoul, Tokyo and will serve as a crucial milestone to improving relations,” the statement added.

Japan’s top government spokesman, Hirokazu Matsuno, told reporters at a regular briefing the visit would help in bolstering ties.

The last time a South Korean president visited Japan was about four years ago when then leader Moon Jae-in attended a Group of 20 summit in Osaka. Then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe avoided formal talks with Moon at the G-20 due to acrimony over historical issues.

The last time there was a summit in Japan was in 2011 during a visit by then South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, according to Japan’s Foreign Ministry.

Yoon said Monday he hoped to “enter a new phase” with Japan by proposing a plan to resolve a dispute over Koreans conscripted to work at Japanese mines and factories during the country’s 1910-1945 rule over the Korean Peninsula. Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi welcomed the effort to “return ties to a healthy state” and both sides announced talks on rolling back trade curbs imposed almost four years ago.

The deal drew praise from President Joe Biden who wants to bring the two US allies together to help counter growing Chinese influence in Asia.

Next month, the South Korean leader will visit Biden at the White House where talks are expected to discuss sweeping US export controls unveiled in October that prevent chipmakers from sending advanced equipment to facilities in China.

Without a license extension, it is unclear how South Korean giants Samsung Electronics Co. and SK Hynix Inc. would proceed in the world’s No. 2 economy. Both firms depend on China as a key market and a manufacturing site for their memory chips.

(Updates with details on visits.)

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