By Sohn JiAe
Photos = Cheong Wa Dae

President Moon Jae-in held talks with a delegation from the Japanese political party Komeito at Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul on Nov. 23. They discussed ways to improve bilateral ties between Seoul and Tokyo.

President Moon expressed his gratitude for what the party has consistently done to develop bilateral ties, despite the historical and political turmoil through which the two countries have gone, saying, “As neighbors, we can join forces to achieve co-prosperity and growth.”

Concerning next year’s PyeongChang 2018 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, President Moon said, “As we’ve seen figure skaters in both countries, Kim Yuna and Mao Asada, compete in good faith and rise to become global stars, I hope the upcoming PyeongChang Winter Games will become a chance for many promising athletes from both countries. I look forward to Japanese Olympians putting on a good show in Pyeongchang, as well as to the Japanese people coming to the host city, which will surely help to increase human-to-human exchanges between our two countries.”

“Let us work together to make the PyeongChang Games, the Tokyo 2020 Summer Games and then the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games events that open up peace on the Korean Peninsula and across Northeast Asia,” he said.



The leader of the political party, who was also heading up the delegation, Natsuo Yamaguchi, said in response, “It’s crucial that both countries expand exchanges and cooperation across various areas of mutual interest, such as increasing exchanges among members of political parties.”

As Yamaguchi presented a handwritten letter to President Moon from Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, President Moon said that he hopes that he'd be able to visit Japan to attend a trilateral summit among Korea, Japan and China as soon as possible. He also sent along a message of hope that the Japanese prime minister, too, would visit Korea during the PyeongChang Olympic Games.


jiae5853@korea.kr