 |
| ▲ This undated graphic image, provided by Yonhap News TV, shows President Yoon Suk Yeol (L) shaking hands with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
S Korea-Japan-talks
S. Korea, Japan to hold first joint security talks of diplomats, defense officials in 5 yrs
SEOUL, April 14 (Yonhap) -- Diplomats and defense officials from South Korea and Japan will hold joint talks next week for the first time in five years, Seoul's defense ministry said Friday.
The director-general-level policy consultation meeting, which will take place Monday in Seoul, comes after South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida agreed to mend ties soured by historical disputes and step up security cooperation during a summit last month.
South Korea will be represented by Seo Min-jung, director-general for Asia and Pacific affairs at the foreign ministry, and Woo Kyung-seok, deputy director-general for international policy at the defense ministry.
Their Japanese counterparts are Takehiro Funakoshi, director-general of Asian and Oceanian affairs, and Atsushi Ando, deputy director-general of the Defense Policy Bureau.
During the session, the two sides will discuss common interest issues, including the security situation in Northeast Asia and on the Korean Peninsula, their respective defense and security policies, and the direction for bilateral security cooperation, it said.
The two countries' leaders agreed in a summit in Tokyo last month to resume various government dialogue channels that had been suspended amid strained ties due to historical disputes stemming from Japan's colonization of the Korean Peninsula from 1910-45.
The two sides last held the 11th session in Tokyo in March 2018. The joint consultation meeting first took place in 1998.
(END)
(C) Yonhap News Agency. All Rights Reserved
