Japan Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki arrives for the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting on April 13, 2023.Japan and South Korea held their first bilateral finance leaders' meeting in seven years on Tuesday, a sign relations between the two are thawing as they confront shared challenges from geopolitical tensions and slowing economic growth.
The two countries agreed to resume regular finance dialogue "at an appropriate timing," Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki told reporters after the meeting.The resumption of bilateral financial discussions comes ahead of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's planned visit to South Korea next week for talks with President Yoon Suk Yeol.
"Japan and South Korea are important neighbors that must cooperate to address various challenges surrounding the global and economy, as well as the regional and international community," Suzuki said at the meeting with his South Korean counterpart Choo Kyung-ho. "As for geo-political challenges, we're experiencing incidents like North Korea's nuclear missile development and Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Japan sees these as unacceptable, and something the two countries must address together," he said.