Japan-Republic of Korea Relations

On May 9, commencing at around 1 p.m. for approximately 50 minutes, Mr. Shinzo Abe, Prime Minister of Japan, held a Japan-Republic of Korea (ROK) Summit Meeting with H.E. Mr. Moon Jae-in, President of the ROK, and subsequently held a luncheon meeting with the President in the form of a working lunch for approximately one hour. The overview of the meeting is as follows.

1. At the beginning, Prime Minister Abe once again welcomed the visit to Japan of President Moon Jae-in, and extended appreciation for the telephone talk immediately after the Inter-Korean Summit, and for the sharing of detailed information through the visit of Mr. Suh Hoon, Director of the National Intelligence Service. Furthermore, Prime Minister Abe welcomed North Korea's positive moves toward denuclearization, following the historic Inter-Korean Summit realized by the leadership of President Moon, and stated that he intends to urge North Korea to take concrete actions in the lead up to the upcoming US-North Korea Summit through cooperation between Japan and the ROK. Moreover, Prime Minister Abe stated that this year marks the 20th anniversary of the Japan-Republic of Korea Joint Declaration and that he intends to make efforts together with President Moon to build future-oriented Japan-ROK relations.
2. Following the Japan-China-ROK Trilateral Summit, the two leaders discussed concrete measures towards the resolution of the issue of North Korea. Prime Minister Abe stated that it is necessary to uphold the goal of complete, verifiable and irreversible dismantlement (CVID) of all weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles of all ranges by North Korea. The two leaders shared the view that the dismantlement of the Punggye-ri Nuclear test site by North Korea is a positive move toward denuclearization, and that, through the US-North Korea talk, they will urge North Korea to take further concrete actions towards CVID, not limited to the discontinuation of nuclear tests and ICBM test launches and the dismantlement of the Punggye-ri Nuclear test site already announced by North Korea. Regarding the abductions issue, Prime Minister Abe once again expressed his gratitude to President Moon for directly conveying the position of Japan on the abductions issue to Chairman Kim Jong-un, and Prime Minister Abe and President Moon concurred that they will continue to cooperate toward the resolution of the abductions issue at the earliest possible date.
3. Moreover, regarding Japan-ROK relations, considering the fact that this October marks the 20th anniversary of the Japan-Republic of Korea Joint Declaration, the two leaders confirmed that they will develop future-oriented Japan-ROK relations, and agreed that they will strengthen dialogue between Japan and the ROK's diplomatic authorities towards the 20th anniversary. For this purpose, Prime Minister Abe stated that it is important to manage difficult issues appropriately and raised the issue of the "worker" statue in front of the Consulate-General of Japan in Busan and the Japan-ROK agreement on the comfort women issue. Then the two leaders shared the view that managing the difficult issues is important for building future-oriented relations.
4. Finally, the two leaders agreed to continue to realize the "shuttle diplomacy" by the two leaders, and agreed to arrange the schedule through diplomatic channels.