South Korea's President Lee eager to visit Japan soon
With the two nations commemorating this year the 60th anniversary of diplomatic normalization, Lee also voiced his hope that Tokyo and Seoul will release a new bilateral statement, following the 1998 Japan-South Korea joint declaration, which called on the two East Asian neighbors to build a future-oriented relationship.
Lee, who took office June 4, held his first in-person meeting with Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba later that month, on the sidelines of the summit of the Group of Seven major countries in Canada, to which the South Korean leader was invited as a guest.
Lee said he himself proposed reviving the shuttle diplomacy with Japan, adding that he intended to visit Japan early but that the Japanese side became busy due to the House of Councilors election scheduled for July 20.
The president expressed hope to promote dialogue with the Japanese side through repeated mutual visits in order to reduce misunderstandings and facilitate cooperation.
Since his inauguration, Lee has engaged in summit diplomacy in earnest, including the participation in the summit among the G7 countries — Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States plus the European Union.
At the news conference, he emphasized his plan of improving ties with China and Russia in what he called practical diplomacy, in addition to advancing cooperation with Japan and the United States.
On U.S. President Donald Trump's high tariff policy, Lee said that his administration will do its best in its negotiations with the U.S. side to draw a mutually beneficial result.
Many South Korean presidents in the past held news conferences about 100 days after taking office.
Lee chose to meet with the press a month after becoming president in the belief that he needs to communicate his administration's policy to the public early as he took office without a transition period following the ouster of his predecessor, Yoon Suk Yeol, over his martial law declaration.
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