Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya will visit South Korea on Monday to boost security cooperation between the East Asian neighbors and their mutual US ally, aimed at countering China’s growing regional power.
The Japanese government said it is the first time in seven years that a Japanese foreign minister will visit South Korea for a bilateral meeting with his South Korean counterpart. Iwaya also wants to meet South Korea’s acting President Choi Sang-mok, Tokyo said.
Iwaya aimed to “reaffirm” the importance of relations and that the two countries would continue to coordinate policies, including on North Korea, “in light of the current strategic environment,” a press release said.
Deepening trilateral security cooperation may be more difficult amid political turmoil in South Korea due to the impeachment of President Yoon Suk Yeol.
The transition to a second Trump administration on January 20 also means that none of the original leaders who established the three-way security cooperation agreement in 2023 – US President Joe Biden, Yun and former Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida – are no longer in power. Will stay.
“The trilateral talks will move forward. The real question is whether the trilateral will make progress,” U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel said at a news conference in Tokyo on Friday, shortly before returning to the United States.
“Work has to be done to nurture and develop it,” Emanuel said.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has been brought to his mountain villa in Seoul after parliament voted last month to impeach and suspend his short-lived martial law decree in December. 3.
The Presidential Security Service and military guards there have prevented investigators from arresting him.
Iwaya’s planned visit comes after the South Korean foreign minister met last week with outgoing US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who expressed “serious concerns” about some of the actions taken by Yoon during his martial law declaration. Iwaya met with Blinken in Tokyo the next day.
After South Korea, Iwaya will travel to the Philippines to discuss security and economic cooperation and visit Palau to attend the second inauguration of President Surangel Whip before returning to Japan.
