During his visit to Korea, Japan's Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Shinjiro Koizumi, requested on the 11th the removal of South Korea's import restrictions on Japanese seafood during a meeting with Minister of Foreign Affairs Park Jin.
According to Kyodo News, Minister Koizumi met with Minister Park for over 30 minutes and told reporters, "I strongly hope that communication among relevant ministries occurs promptly to swiftly eliminate import restrictions." He did not relay Minister Park's response.
Korea is maintaining import restrictions on seafood from eight prefectures, including Fukushima, due to the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident and the ocean discharge of contaminated water (referred to as 'treated water' by the Japanese government).
Kyodo News reported that President Lee Jae-myung is planning to visit Japan later this month to coordinate a summit with Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, interpreting this meeting as a prelude ahead of the summit. This issue is said to be likely to come up on the agenda of the summit.
The Korean government holds the position that restoring Korean consumers' trust in the safety of Japanese food products is necessary to ease import restrictions on Japanese seafood. Minister Park is speculated to have responded negatively to Minister Koizumi's request based on the government's fundamental stance that 'restoring trust is a priority.'
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that Minister Koizumi paid a courtesy visit to Minister Park at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Seoul that day to discuss overall Korea-Japan relations, including economic cooperation.
Minister Park emphasized the need for active communication at all levels to ensure that Korea-Japan relations, which mark the 60th anniversary of normalized diplomatic relations, develop in a more robust, mature, and future-oriented manner, while Minister Koizumi expressed sympathy for this and hoped for specific discussions on cooperation between the two countries in various fields.
Minister Koizumi is the son of former Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and ranks high in preference surveys for the next Prime Minister of Japan. He visited Korea to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Food Security Ministers' Meeting and the Agricultural Ministers' Meeting of Korea, China, and Japan.