President Moon Jae-in and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida had their first summit call on the afternoon of the 15th.
Just 11 days after Prime Minister Kishida took office on the 4th, today's call was made as an inaugural address for Prime Minister Kishida.
President Moon spoke on the phone with Prime Minister Kishida, who took office as Japan's 100th Prime Minister, for about 30 minutes from 6:40 pm today to congratulate him on his inauguration, Blue House spokesman Park Kyung-mi said.
President Moon said, "As the closest neighbor that shares the values of democracy and a market economy, we are a partner that we must cooperate with for world peace and prosperity beyond Northeast Asia." In order for our two countries to respond together in the face of new challenges such as problems and to open the post-corona era into a future with hope, we need to further strengthen cooperation between the two countries,” he said.
Prime Minister Kishida said, "Thank you for your warm words of congratulations. Under the severe security situation, cooperation between Korea and Japan and Korea, the U.S. and Japan is important."
Regarding the issue of forced labor, President Moon said, "It is a matter of difference in the legal interpretation of the scope of application of the 1965 Korea-Japan Claims Agreement." ' he suggested.
Regarding the comfort women issue, President Moon also said, "I think it is most important to find a solution that the victims are convinced and that does not interfere with diplomatic relations. Not many,” he said.
"It is necessary to quickly resume dialogue and diplomacy with North Korea in order to prevent North Korea from building up its nuclear and missile capabilities and achieve complete denuclearization and the establishment of lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula," Moon said. "I highly appreciate Prime Minister Kishida's will," he said.
In response, Prime Minister Kishida said that North Korea's nuclear and missile activities pose a threat to the peace and security of the region and the international community, and hopes for an early resumption of dialogue between the US and North Korea. I said it was important.
President Moon said that the South Korean government will continue to be interested and cooperate with the issue of Japanese abductees as it has done so far, and Prime Minister Kishida expressed his gratitude.
President Moon said he looked forward to meeting directly with Prime Minister Kishida and candidly exchange views on the direction of the development of bilateral relations.