Lee meets Japanese chair of bilateral lawmakers' union, calls for closer ties
President Lee Jae Myung, right, holds a meeting with Ryota Takeda, chair of the Korea-Japan Parliamentarians' union, at Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul, Friday. Yonhap
President Lee Jae Myung met with a Japanese lawmaker who heads a bilateral lawmakers' union Friday and emphasized the importance of strengthening ties between the two countries amid international uncertainties.
Lee held a meeting with Ryota Takeda, chair of the South Korea-Japan Parliamentarians' union, a bipartisan lawmakers' group promoting bilateral ties, at Cheong Wa Dae.
"International relations are becoming increasingly complex," Lee said during the meeting, adding, "At times like this, significantly improving South Korea-Japan relations would be beneficial to both countries."
The president said he hopes the two countries will greatly improve their ties and become "ever closer" neighbors.
Exchanges between the two countries' lawmakers are as important as those between their peoples and leaders, Lee noted, expressing hope for closer interaction between the two parliaments.
Takeda referred to the "shuttle diplomacy" under which Lee and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi exchanged back-to-back reciprocal visits, calling it a "new role model."
The Japanese lawmaker also recalled a Japanese news report that he said showed trust between South Korea and Japan had risen above 70 percent, saying the two countries should make efforts to sustain this uptrend in bilateral relations.
Takeda said both South Korea and Japan are geopolitically surrounded by nuclear-armed states and that middle powers, like the two countries, should unite to help stabilize the global order amid growing uncertainties.