<Anchor>
President Moon Jae-in's visit to Japan and the Korea-Japan summit, which were considered for the Tokyo Olympics, were ultimately canceled. The opportunity to unravel the tight-knit relationship between Korea and Japan is once again lost.
Correspondent Kwon Ran.
<Reporter>
President Moon Jae-in has made the final decision not to go to Japan for the Tokyo Olympics.
The first summit between President Moon and Japanese Prime Minister Suga also failed.
The Blue House explained that the two countries had meaningful discussions, but that the summit was not successful.
[Park Soo-hyeon / Senior Citizen Communication Chief of the Blue House: Although there was an approach of considerable understanding, it was still insufficient to be regarded as the outcome of the summit, and this decision was made in consideration of other circumstances.]
In the meantime, the Korean government has
made this decision as a
prerequisite for visiting Japan
.
He emphasized that the talks and results that the people will understand.
They failed to find a final touchpoint in the three current issues: the past, such as the comfort women and forced labor, the discharge of contaminated water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant, and Japan's export controls.
In addition, the profane sexual remarks of the Japanese Embassy in Korea in Soma, including the claim of sovereignty over Dokdo through the defense white paper, acted as bad news at the last minute.
A Blue House official said, "This is an unacceptable remark, and the atmosphere inside the Blue House has also changed to be skeptical."
The Blue House is in a position to keep the door of dialogue open until the end of his term, but considering the nerves between the two sides, it is not expected that the relationship will be restored easily.
Due to President Moon's absence, South Korea's Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism Hwang Hee will attend the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games as a representative of the government delegation.