Prime Minister meets former Japanese chief cabinet secretary in Seoul
Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon speaks during a Cabinet meeting held at Seoul Government Complex, Tuesday. The Prime Minister's Office confirmed that Lee had a lunch meeting with former Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura a day before in Seoul. Yonhap
By Jung Da-min
Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon had a lunch meeting with former Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura in Seoul on Monday amid lingering bilateral tensions over trade, security and history, according to Japanese media reports confirmed by the Prime Minister's Office of South Korea, Tuesday.
The meeting between the Korean prime minister and Kawamura was unofficial and private, according to officials at the Prime Minister's Office. They did not provide further details on the meeting, including the topics of discussion.
Japanese media reported Lee and Kawamura exchanged views on the Korea-Japan conflict and discussed ways to mend bilateral ties, including how to arrange a possible Korea-Japan summit.
The Japanese media reported the topics discussed included Seoul's recent decision to end the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) and strengthen export restrictions on Japan following Tokyo's removal of South Korea from its whitelist of trading partners.
Kawamura is a member of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and a senior member of the Japan-South Korea Parliamentarians' Union. He visited Seoul for four days from last Saturday to attend a cultural event held on Sunday at COEX in Seoul, intended to boost Seoul-Tokyo bilateral exchanges. Also in attendance were other Japanese lawmakers including Ryota Takeda, chief of the parliamentarian league's committee on security and foreign affairs, and Hideki Miyauchi, an LDP member, and Norkkazu Suzuki, parliamentary vice minister for foreign affairs.
Kawamura also met Rep. Kang Chang-il of the Korean ruling Democratic Party of Korea on Monday. Kang is the Korean head of the Korea-Japan Parliamentarians' Union.
Kawamura, Prime Minister Lee, Kang and Fukushiro Nukaga, the Japanese chairman of the Korea-Japan Parliamentarians' Union, reportedly dined together last December in Seoul to discuss the South Korean Supreme Court's decisions in last October and November that ordered Japanese companies to compensate surviving South Korean victims of forced labor during the 1910-1945 Japanese colonial rule.
A former press correspondent in Tokyo, Lee is known to have extensive ties in Japan.