Lee Jae-myung, the president, is expected to visit Nara Prefecture in mid next month for a summit with Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, with the two countries said to be coordinating the plan. After Japan's trilateral summit with China and Korea fell through, the two countries are accelerating the restoration of shuttle diplomacy, while also weighing a possible visit to China as balanced diplomacy continues.
According to the ruling camp on the 8th, the president's visit to Japan is being discussed as a one-night, two-day trip, with Nara City, Takaichi's hometown and constituency, emerging as the leading venue. After the APEC summit in Gyeongju in Oct., the president told a news conference, "I proposed holding the next meeting in Japan, preferably in Nara Prefecture, and the prime minister was positive."
If this trip to Japan goes through, the Korea-Japan summit will be the fifth since the president took office. The leaders of the two countries have confirmed the restoration of shuttle diplomacy through the G7 summit, reciprocal visits to Tokyo and Busan, and meetings on the sidelines of APEC.
Japan initially sought to hold a China-Japan-Korea summit next month, but after Prime Minister Takaichi's remark about "intervening in the event of a Taiwan contingency," China-Japan relations deteriorated and China refused to attend, leading to the cancellation.
Separately from the Japan visit, the president is also said to be considering talks with China's President Xi Jinping. With the groundwork for repairing ties laid by last month's Korea-China summit on the sidelines of APEC, the move is seen as a plan to strengthen balanced diplomacy encompassing both China and Japan. A visit to China is being discussed as likely to be scheduled after the Japan trip.