SEOUL, First Vice Foreign Minister Kim Hong-kyun will visit Japan and Malaysia this week for talks with each of his counterparts on bilateral relations and other issues, Seoul’s foreign ministry said Tuesday.
Kim will hold the “strategic dialogue” with Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Masataka Okano in Tokyo on Friday, a meeting that comes about eight months after the previous talks.
“The two sides plan to discuss South Korea-Japan bilateral relations, as we also explore ways to cooperate in a broad range of areas, including regional and international issues,” the ministry said in a release.
The vice ministerial diplomatic dialogue was launched as a follow-up to the March summit between President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida last year.
The summit led to the dramatic warming of bilateral ties after South Korea proposed a solution to compensate Korean victims of Japan’s wartime forced labor without the contributions from Japanese firms.
Before traveling to Tokyo, Kim will make a t
hree-day visit to Malaysia starting Tuesday.
Kim will meet with his Malaysian counterpart, Amran Mohamed Zin, for the bilateral policy dialogue for broad discussions on issues of common interests and efforts to boost cooperation.
It will mark the resumption of the high-level diplomatic talks with the Southeast Asian country after 16 years, the ministry added.
Source: Yonhap News Agency