South Korean President Lee Jae Myung (right) speaks to former Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba during their meeting over a luncheon Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul on Wednesday. (Yonhap)
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung met former Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Wednesday, underscoring the import
¹Ù´ÙÀ̾߱â#¸±°ÔÀÓ ance of sustained cooperation between the two countries.
¡°I truly appreciate that relations between Korea and Japan became quite stable while you served as the prime minister in office, and
¸±°ÔÀÓ¼Õ¿À°ø since then, cooperation between the two countries has also been proceeding very well,¡± Lee said during the luncheon meeting at Cheong Wa Dae.
Lee expressed his hopes to ¡°continue to play a s
¸±°ÔÀÓ°« ignificant role going forward in this complex global landscape.¡±
Speaking through an interpreter, Ishiba said, ¡°Although my tenure lasted only a short year, the diplomatic priority I placed
¹Ù´ÙÀ̾߱â5¸¸ the greatest importance on was the development of Japan-South Korea relations.¡±
¡°There are many bilateral relationships around the world,¡± Ishiba added. ¡°However, I wanted to make the relati
¹Ù´ÙÀ̾߱âºñ¹ÐÄÚµå onship between Japan and Korea the finest in the world, and I still do.¡±
Ishiba recalled a series of high-level exchanges over the past year that helped improve ties. Lee and Ishiba met three times between June and September ? first in Kananaskis, Canada, on the sidelines of the Group of Seven summit in June, then in Tokyo in August and Busan in September.
Ishiba said he was glad to hear that Lee has maintained "a very good relationship" with Japan¡¯s incumbent Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, who succeeded him in office.
Ishiba made his two-day visit to Seoul to deliver his keynote speech to the Asan Plenum 2026 hosted by the Asan Institute for Policy Studies, a think tank in Seoul.
In his speech, Ishiba called for a gradual path toward a NATO-style collective security framework in the Indo-Pacific region, saying that closer coordination between US allies such as South Korea, Japan and Australia could eventually develop into a NATO-like security structure in the region.
Ishiba underscored the importance of pursuing such a move beyond the modernization of the Korea-US and Japan-US alliances and the strengthening of trilateral coordination.
¡°It is a matter of the highest importance to consider building such a framework for the broader Asia Pacific.¡±