President Lee Jae-myung and first lady Kim Hea-kyung, who are visiting Japan, met with Korean-origin artists in Nara Prefecture on the 13th to exchange views on Korea-Japan exchanges mediated by culture and the arts. It was a roundtable inviting Korean-origin artists born and raised in Japan, arranged to encourage their role in linking the two countries through the arts.
At the roundtable that afternoon, the first lady said, "You are very precious figures who link the two countries," and added, "I would like to say that I hope you will be 'recognized' wherever you are in Korea or Japan, but I also know well that this itself is not easy and how difficult the process is." The Blue House said she went on to encourage them by noting, "I hope we can meet again in Korea."
According to Blue House deputy spokesperson Jeon Eun-su, the roundtable featured traditional Korean sweets personally made by the first lady the previous day, including songhwa dasik, pine nut yeot, saengran, yullan, and yakgwa. The artists introduced Korea-Japan cultural exchange activities in their respective fields and said, "Rather than being a one-off, exchanges need a structure that is built together from the planning stage." They also agreed that the two countries should broaden the foundation for respecting culture in everyday settings such as schools and local communities.
Meanwhile, President Lee held a Korea-Japan summit in Nara Prefecture, the hometown of Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, and agreed to cooperate for shared goals such as addressing historical issues and "denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula." The two countries will jointly pursue DNA analysis of Korean remains from the Chosei undersea coal mine and strengthen cooperation on supply chain issues. The agreement comes as China, protesting Takaichi's remark about "military involvement in the event of a Taiwan contingency," is controlling rare earth exports and tensions between China and Japan are rising. This is the third meeting between the two leaders, following last year's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Gyeongju and the Group of 20 (G20) summit in South Africa.