President Lee Jae-myung sent a letter expressing his intention to directly attend the 60th anniversary event of the normalization of diplomatic relations between Korea and Japan to Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru last month, it was confirmed on the 29th. Although President Lee could not attend the event hosted by the Japanese embassy due to the schedule of the G7 summit, the purpose was to respond to Prime Minister Ishiba's diplomatic gesture of attending the event hosted by the Korean embassy in person.
A Presidential Office official said that day, "The leaders of Korea and Japan are communicating closely in various ways to celebrate the 60th anniversary of diplomatic normalization and to create a friendly basis for the future-oriented development of the bilateral relationship," adding, "This letter is also part of that ongoing effort."
Earlier, Korea and Japan held commemoration events hosted by their respective embassies this year to mark the 60th anniversary of diplomatic normalization. The Japanese embassy in Korea hosted an event at the Lotte Hotel in Jung-gu, Seoul, on the 16th of last month. At that time, President Lee sent a video message instead of attending in person due to a conflict with the schedule of the G7 summit held in Canada.
Afterward, the two leaders met at the G7 summit to hold their first summit and agreed to work toward the development of Korea-Japan relations, including the restoration of "shuttle diplomacy." After returning home from the summit, Prime Minister Ishiba attended a celebration event hosted by the Korean embassy in Japan in person. The event took place at the New Otani Hotel in Tokyo. In his speech, Prime Minister Ishiba stated, "Let's take a new step together toward a better future."