President Yoon Suk Yeol and first lady Kim Keon Hee on the morning of March 16 wave goodbye to well-wishers at Seoul Air Base in Seongnam, Gyeonggi-do Province, before departing for their two-day visit to Japan on the presidential plane Code One. (Yonhap News)

By Yun Dahee

President Yoon Suk Yeol and first lady Kim Keon Hee on March 16 arrived in Japan.

For their two-day visit, the president and his spouse departed in the morning from Seoul Air Base in Seongnam, Gyeonggi-do Province, and arrived at Haneda Airport in Tokyo. 

This trip is the first to Japan by an incumbent Korean president since June 2019, when then President Moon Jae-in attended the Group of 20 summit in Osaka. 

President Yoon's official schedule begins with a roundtable with ethnic Korean residents of Japan. In the afternoon, he will attend summit talks with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, followed by a welcoming dinner. 

After holding a joint news conference, the president and his Japanese counterpart at the dinner will have time to interact. Major media of both countries said both leaders will have their first meal together at a sukiyaki (Japanese hot pot) restaurant in Tokyo's Ginza district. 

The president's itinerary for March 17 includes a meeting of key political figures from the Korea-Japan Parliamentarians' Union and a Japan-Korea committee and the Korea-Japan Business Roundtable with executives from both countries. He will wrap up his trip by giving a lecture to students at Keio University.

daheeyun@korea.kr