Yoon to Visit Tokyo Next Week

President Yoon Suk-yeol will visit Japan on March 16-17 at the invitation of the Japanese government and meet with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, the presidential office said Thursday. 

The last time a Korean president visited the island country was in June 2019.

The presidential office here said that means shuttle diplomacy, where the heads of the two countries visit each other every year for a summit, will resume after a 12-year hiatus, making the trip "an important milestone for the improvement and development of bilateral relations." 

Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno expressed hopes that the visit will help further develop bilateral relations "based on friendly and cooperative ties that were maintained since the normalization of diplomatic relations." 

A senior presidential official told reporters, "There's been a forward-looking statement from the Japanese government with regard to Japanese export restrictions against Korea. We will also see what will happen to the bilateral intelligence-sharing pact," which was effectively put on hold over the export curbs. 

Yoon will be accompanied by business leaders on his trip.